Porsche enthusiasts are perhaps the most fervent and well-heeled in the automotive industry. And the answer to when the brand’s iconic 911 sports car depreciates is: if they are driven sparingly and well looked after, never. Prime examples of vintage models can run into the six figures, or about the price of a new 911.
The one exception to the 911 craze is the 996 generation built between 1997 and 2004. Those 911s were quite capable performance cars. But the 996 was the first generation where Porsche switched to the classic air-cooled to water-cooled engines. The engines carried a fatal (though fixable) design flaw. And you can immediately distinguish them from the rest of the family by the unsightly runny egg headlights. The reaction engendered by showing up with one at the local Porsche club meet-up would be about on par with arriving in your cool new Ferrari.
But because enthusiasts don’t care for them, 996 generation Porsche 911s are relatively cheap, costing about what you would expect to pay for a high-end performance car from the late 1990s. And Spanish builders Porsche by Ludic are asking an important question: what if the 996 generation 911 just looked way better? They resto-modded a 996 to look like a classic widebody model. And now you can get one with a ducktail spoiler.
Sure, the 996 by Ludic doesn’t look perfect. The roofline does not quite match up with the vintage models. The car is longer than a vintage Porsche, and the small round headlights don’t look proportional on a larger car. But, unlike that divine resto-modded Singer Porsche, mere mortals should be able to afford this.
