Porsche 911 (964) Speedster

In the mid 1950s, Max Hoffman, the American importer of various European car brands, convinced sports car maker Porsche that a more affordable 356 entry-level model with fewer features would be a good move for the US market. From this reasoning, the 356 Speedster resulted with lower windscreen and a rudimentary weather protection for the case that this car is parked outside. Door panels and a fabric hood omitted initially. The Speedster was only available as 356 A, afterwards the body variant was canceled for several decades.

It was not until 1989 that Porsche got the concept out of the drawer again and showed the 911 ‘G Series’ with this radical cure shortly before the production of this model ended. It was followed by a Speedster version based on the 964 in the 1994 modelyear, ie from late summer 1993. Based on the narrow bodyshell of the 964 Carrera 2 Convertible, the Speedster got a lower windshield, an emergency folding roof and an extended roof cover, including the two characteristic ‘humps’ behind the seats. Beneath the body, the sports suspension from the 964 Carrera RS was used, from which also the wingmirrors, door panels and sports seats were sourced. In contrast to the predecessor, the 911 Speedster, the 964 had ABS, power steering and a 3.6-liter six-cylinder boxer engine with 250 hp and 310 newtonmeters of torque. Thus, the open two-seater reached up to 260 kph topspeed.

Around 930 copies of the 964 Speedster left the low-volume production in Zuffenhausen. At the request of their first owners, 15 of them received wider rear fenders in the so-called ‘Werks Turbo Look’ (WTL). 245 Speedsters remained on the German market, the rest was exported. Typical paint colors were ‘Black’, ‘Guards Red’ or ‘Speed Yellow’, but also ‘White’ and ‘Silver’ were sprayed more often. Rarer was the choice of ‘Midnight Blue metallic’, which was only sprayed 23 times on bodyshells of the 964 Speedster.

One of them was delivered to a famous German soccer star in August 1993 directly at the Porsche factory. He belonged to the German team of World Champions in 1990 and played for AS Monaco since 1992: Jürgen Klinsmann. He became the national coach for Germany and signed his Speedster on the rear right fender before he handed it over to its second owner. However, this detail did not appeal to the third owner, who has had the car in his collection since 1997. He ordered his Porsche Center to repaint the fender and also the right door to match the metallic gradient. On the odometer are just over 77,200 kilometers, the front shows some minor stone chips and the interior minimal patina, which makes this 964 all the more sympathetic and earned him a rating of 2+ in the report. While the original price in 1993 was 131,500 DM, today 224,500 € is the asking price at dealer ‘Motorlegenden by Michael Schnabl’, who is offering the car also in our classic car market here at Secret Classics.

Images: Motorlegenden by Michael Schnabl