Final Air-Cooled Porsche 911 Turbo Fetches Over RM3.3 Million At Auction

The 911 Turbo nameplate celebrates its half-century this year, and this has perhaps fuelled the values of past generation units recently in the used cars and auction spaces.

As reported, the famed and revered Porsche 911 Turbo nameplate celebrates its half century this year. Perhaps this has aided in raising the value of some past generation examples in the used cars and auction spaces, and here’s a recent one that fetched serious money.

Pictured here is what UK-based auction house Bonhams described as one of the final air-cooled (993-generation) Porsche 911 Turbo to roll out of the marque’s production line some 26 years ago. More specifically, this 911 Turbo was released from the Zuffenhausen factory on March 27, 1998.

Said date is rather significant considering that just four days later, Porsche officially ceased production of the 993-gen 911 model, thus marking the end of the air-cooled era for the 911 sportscar nameplate. Of course, that’s not all.

Recently sold via UK's renowned auction house Bonhams was this 993-gen 911 Turbo unit that's been well-documented to be one of the last air-cooled 911s to roll out of Porsche's production line. 

For this specific 993-gen 911 Turbo unit, it spent another six months in Porsche’s exclusive Sonderwunsch (Special Wishes) department to be customised at the request of its first owner at the time. This perhaps explains the rather unique aesthetics this 911 Turbo unit featured.

For the exterior, the first owner elected to have this 911 Turbo dressed in Ocean Blue paint. This then got matched with both wheels and Brembo brake calipers finished in the same shade.

Other notable aesthetic bespokery include the Night Blue leather upholstery in the cabin matched with blue-painted dials, unique Prof. Ferry Porsche memoriam dash plaque, as well as custom side sills bearing “The Last Waltz” script.

This unit also featured a rather bespoke interior that sported Night Blue leather upholstery plus several unique commemorative plaques.

Included too were a slew of mechanical upgrades that adds to this unit’s desirability. Highlights encompass the rare WLS2 tuning pack that bumped power output from 402 HP to 444 HP, a larger 92-litre fuel tank, extra oil cooler, twin tailpipes, as well as strut braces.

Despite clocking in a rather low 11,029 KM mileage on its odometer, auction house Bonhams weren’t initially able to close this unit’s sale at its initial estimated price that ranged between GBP700,000 and GBP800,000 (approx. RM3.87 million and RM4.42 million respectively).

Instead, this 911 Turbo sold at a lower GBP614,200 (approx. just over RM3.39 million). Though it didn’t meet initial expectations, said price still surpassed a previous high of GBP324,000 (approx. RM1.79 million) fetched by a similar 993-gen 911 Turbo S unit it sold in Dec 2023.

Apart from the Ocean Blue painted exterior and matching wheel and brake caliper colours, this 993 Turbo also received the rare WLS2 engine upgrade, plus added strut bracings and a larger fuel tank.

Of course, this still falls far short of the eye-watering US$3,415,000 (approx. RM14,078,337.50) figure fetched by the one-off “Project Gold” 993 Turbo Classic Series unit built some two decades after initial production ended using OEM parts in 2018 to raise funds for charity.

As for what was the last air-cooled 993-gen 911 Porsche produced? It was a Carrera 4S variant that’s now under the ownership of Hollywood comedian and renowned Porsche-phile Jerry Seinfeld.