GRR

Astonishing £3.5m Porsche collection up for grabs

05th February 2021
Bob Murray

The seven most magnificent Porsches of the past 25 years? There’s a challenge for anyone who loves cars. Thankfully we have the answer already, and it comes in the form of one of the most remarkable single-owner collections of Porsches of the modern era. And, yes, your luck’s in, they are all coming up for sale.

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This Swiss-based septet of performance perfection contains all the limited-production designations you might expect – GT2, RS, R, Turbo – in an assortment of cars that date from 1995 to 2018. Most were ordered from new by the same Swiss collector, and have been barely driven.

RM Sotheby’s is selling the collection in its upcoming online Open Roads auction. What will they go for? RM gives an estimated price range (converted into Sterling from Swiss francs) to give us an idea. So count up your pennies and get your bids in for when the auction kicks off on 19th February. You never know, by the time the hammer falls on 28th February you might find yourself with the Porsche of your dreams.

Just one little problem: which of the seven to choose?

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1995 911 Turbo cabriolet, £628-709,000

A 993-gen Turbo convertible? Surely some mistake? The last air-cooled 911 definitely came as a Turbo and it was also available as a cabrio, but to have both together you would have to wait until the next, 996-gen 911 arrived – unless you were someone special, that is.

Someone like Willi Weber, Michael Schumacher’s former manager. He is the reputed first owner of this car, one of just 14 Turbo cabriolets that bespoke arm Porsche Exclusive were persuaded to make. It came at quite a price, too: at that time an eye-watering 240,300 DM, a third more than a regular 993 cabriolet.

This rarity is also the only 993 Turbo with a single-turbo flat-six and rear-drive, the 3.6-litre engine and drivetrain being carried over from the previous 964 Turbo. The car for sale is black, inside and out, with a maroon hood, a special Ruf gearbox and 32,000km from new.

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2004 Porsche Carrera GT, £628-668,000

Mid-engine, V10, carbon-fibre monocoque… definitely not a 911 then and in fact a limited (1,270 made) production version of what was in the late 1990s going to be Porsche’s new endurance race car, powered by an engine originally developed for the Arrows Formula 1 car.

Today the Carrera GT is hailed as the last great analogue supercar – one where the driver alone is in total control of the naturally-aspirated 5.7-litre V10’s 613PS (451kW) at 8,000rpm via mechanically connected linkages including a six-speed manual gearbox. The faint-hearted need not apply.

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2010 911 Sport Classic, £251-283,000

A modern-day 911 with a ducktail spoiler means only one thing: the Classic, Porsche’s 2010 attempt to bring a dash of ‘70s 911 DNA into its 997-gen range. Only 250 were ever made, all finished in a special shade of grey with grey stripes and, on the inside, espresso brown leather with woven leather and fabric seat and door inserts.

The mix of pure 911 charisma with the latest tech was further heightened by rear-wheel-drive (in defiance of the wide body) and a manual six-speed gearbox. It’s not short of power either, with the standard Power Kit boosting the 3.8-litre flat six to 413PS (304kW). Ceramic composite brakes, sport suspension and sports seats were other features.

Characterful and collectible, the car in the sale has covered 25,600km.

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2010 Porsche 911 GT2 RS, £324-365,000

If you want sheer power and a manual gearbox there is no 911 to beat the 997-generation GT2 RS. Endowing RS credentials to the already exceptional GT2 package really did lead to fireworks, making at the time the fastest 911 ever and a car that remained Porsche’s fastest model at the Nürburgring Nordschleife for many years. With 90PS (66kW) added and 68kg taken out, the lean, mean GT2 RS could call on 628PS (426kW) to deliver epic performance.

This Carrera white with black and red two-tone leather interior is another Swiss delivered, single-owner car with few miles under its wheels, about 6,000km in fact.

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2014 Porsche 918 Spyder, £790-891,000

Porsche’s first hybrid hypercar, Stuttgart’s answer to the McLaren P1 and Ferrari LaFerrari, could boast many claims to game including, in this particular example, a $63,000 “liquid chrome” blue metallic paint job. It is also distinguished by a mocha brown leather interior, Weissach package mag wheels, Burmester stereo and other options like a front-end lift that play up the 918 Spyder’s everyday usability and touring side.

It’s still a mighty performance machine of course, with its flat-plane crank V8 and two electric motors combining to deliver 887PS (652kW) and nigh-on a thousand foot-pounds of twist. Even today few cars are quicker: 0-62mph in 2.6 seconds, 0-124mph in 7.2 seconds and a top speed of 214mph.

The 389th 918 Spyder built, this Swiss-delivered one-owner example has been driven just 5,500km.

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2017 Porsche 911 R, £267-308,000

Recalling the motorsport-inspired 911 R of the late 1960s, the reborn R was aimed not at competition but at keeping the Porsche faithful happy: they were miffed when the new (991-gen) GT3 RS came out with only an automatic PDK transmission, unlike its manually geared and much-loved predecessor. So to keep them happy Porsche came up with an additional model, the R, that combined the GT3 RS’s drivetrain with a six-speed manual ‘box. It was not any quicker but it was a far more involving drive. The R was introduced at the 2016 Geneva Motor Show and 991 were made in total.

This paint-to-sample Gulf Blue car is the 401st made and one of few to have been customised by Porsche Exclusive with heritage-inspired options like sport seats trimmed in brown leather with pepita inserts, aluminium-look fuel filler cap and leather dashboard trim. And yes, you guessed: it’s a one-owner car that’s hardly been driven.

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2018 Porsche 911 GT2 RS, £316-364,000

The newest car in the collection is also the most powerful – with 700PS (515kW) from its 3.8-litre twin-turbo flat-six it is the most powerful road-legal 911 ever. Living up to the GT2 RS ethos, it combines the power with lightweight engineering (it weighs just 1,470kg) and a seven-speed dual clutch PDK automatic for devastating results, on road or track.

As race-bred and radical as Porsche can make a street car, the GT2 RS’s Nordschleife lap of 6 minutes 47.3 seconds was enough at the time to give it the production car record.

One owner, 450km from new and those menacing looks fetchingly rendered in a metallic Azzuro California shade of blue, this GT2 RS even gets gold-coloured centrelock wheels. One thing, though, is missing: the rear spoiler. The owner had it removed to give it “a more subtle look”. Fat chance of that!

Images courtesy of Remi Dargegen/RM Sotheby’s.

  • Porsche

  • 911

  • Turbo

  • GT2 RS

  • 911 R

  • Carrera GT

  • Sport Classic

  • 918 Spyder

  • RM Sotheby's

  • For Sale

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