PORSCHE'S GREATEST HITS, VOL. 2

THE 911 SPORT CLASSIC IS A COLLECTOR'S EDITION OF ALL THE COMPANY'S MOST BELOVED WORKS.

I REMEMBER STUMBLING upon the original Porsche 911 Sport Classic on a near-deserted stand at the stifling 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show. I shrugged at it as I shuffled past, jet-lagged, hungover, and sweating a worrying amount. My judgment, in that moment, might not have been entirely sound. But even after resting, hydrating, and returning to a country with functioning air-conditioning, I still didn’t really get the Sport Classic. It wore a ducktail spoiler on its engine lid and black Fuchs-style wheels at each corner. I assumed that the show car must be some sort of rolling advertisement for a line of retro-tinged accessories that the company would begin selling.

All Sport Classics come with number circle decals. Buyers can specify a two-digit number or choose to simply peel off the stickers.

Wrong. Porsche planned to build 250 examples of this tarted-up 997-generation Carrera S and price each at $225,000 (in today’s dollars). I mean, the Alcantara-covered coat hooks are nice and all, but come on! At an RM Sotheby’s auction in Phoenix in 2019, a low-miles Sport Classic sold for $654,000. This in a country where the Sport Classic was never even sold when new.

It's the little differences. The Porsche crest with orange bars (instead of red) is the subtlest of retro touches.

Shows what I know about investing. I’d grossly underestimated the appeal and increasing value of Porsche’s holy relics. These include, but are not limited to, those that appeared on the first Sport Classic: the Fuchs-style wheels, the ducktail spoiler, the vintage-style gray paint. To the Porsche faithful, these are irresistible fetishes promising a tangible connection to Porsche’s past glories.