1988 Porsche 911 Supersport Targa

Bought 12 years ago by owner Richard this 911 Targa has since been used as a Sunday afternoon car. It’s had five owners in total and now shows 46,483 miles on the clock (up from just 41,488 when he bought it, which demonstrates how sparingly it’s been used).

He sourced it from Grange Performance in Stockton-on-Tees, where he’d originally gone to look at purchasing a Mazda MX-5 it had in stock. ‘Luckily my wife’s a car fan and when I came back with the Porsche she said: “good on you”’.

It’s had a recent service by independent Porsche specialist Tom Ferguson in Gateshead, and also comes with a fresh MOT. There are a couple of minor advisories indicating that the n/s and o/s rear brake pads are wearing a little thin, so these will need replacing at some point, but given the current mileage acquisition rate, that could be in teh next century...

During his ownership the car has always lived in a heated garage and he is only selling it (along with a Triumph Vitesse Mk2 Convertible, also through The Market), as he and his wife are downsizing and emigrating to Spain.

The Guards Red paintwork is in very good condition, with a deep shine and no polishing swirls evident. It’s not a show queen so there are some stone chips here and there, as you’d expect on a car that’s been regularly enjoyed. There are no scratches around the door handles, and it looks to retain its excellent factory panel fit all round.

Both black trims on the rear wheelarches are showing some signs of cracking around the lower fixing points, but again this is to be expected and they could be left as is, or replaced fairly easily. There’s a touch of chipping where the paintwork meets plastic on the front recoil bumper, but we’re nitpicking here to give an honest appraisal. A quick look at the sills shows nice solid impact-free metal, similarly there’s no evidence of any issues on the galvanised body at the bottom of B’ and C-pillars.

The Targa hoop is in good nick, as is the panel itself but it has the start of a couple of small nicks in the outer covering material towards the rear. Neither is major and is just the result of it being whipped off and popped on again through the years. That evocative Porsche badge on the bonnet looks good as new, with no signs of any discolouration or fading.

If you read the original spec list (on the Certificate of Authenticity), you’ll see that the forged alloy wheels were originally ‘Grand Prix White’. While that may have been tres 1980s, they have at some point been refinished in Black and remain very tidy. The respective Continental rubber that they’re each shod in also looks to have a very healthy amount of tread remaining.

Richard says the last time the car was detailed, the lad doing it measured the paint thickness and although it’s had a little bit here and there, said that it still largely wears the original paint.

Unless Porsche interiors sport Pasha we believe they work best, as in this example, as a study in black. Both front seats are excellent with no rips, tears or even signs of excessive wear, while the plus twos in the rear look unmarked. The velour carpets are similarly smart – with a small area on the driver’s foot well the only slightly worn area – as are the accompanying factory overmats.

The vendor says everything inside the cabin functions as expected, including the Kenwood radio cassette and High Fidelity 8-speaker stereo system and electrically adjustable (for height) seats. The Targa Top lining material had shown signs of wear, so Richard has had it recently replaced in keeping with the rest of what is a very tidy interior.

He’s provided some pictures with the carpets lifted to demonstrate that there are no signs of any problem corrosion starting to develop on the floor pans.

Contort yourself, get underneath and you’re rewarded with the sight of a very clean underside. It certainly adheres to the owner’s account of the car ‘never seeing poor weather’.

Just as inside the floor pans look solid underneath, and still wear their stone chip with evidence of a little wax-type substance on top. There’s a complete absence of any road mud or other substances on or around any of the wheel arches. The exhaust system looks to be in rude health, although the manifolds are newer in appearance than the back box.

Pop the boot and the engine bay is similarly clean, although the fan is a bit tarnished and lets the side down a little. Again that’s down to age and could easily be tidied up if the new owner wanted a bit more eye candy under here. Struts have been replaced on both bonnet and boot, failure of which is common on this generation 911. Up front, the carpet trim looks unused.

Included with the car is the original stamped service book, which confirms the low mileage as genuine. There is also a certificate of authenticity from Porsche Cars Great Britain, listing model, engine transmission and chassis numbers, paint code, original Porsche selling centre (AFN Guildford), interior specifications and a list of optional equipment ordered by the first owner.

The original sales invoice is also included, showing that Mr D.C. Bird (probably not that one, cricket fans!) paid £50,633.82 for the car on October 12, 1988. Forged alloy wheels and the Supersport equipment (Turbo Body) boxes were also ticked. In addition there’s a raft of MOT certificates and also the original driver’s manual in the folder.

Please visit the documents section of the gallery of this listing where you will find photos of this and other paperwork to support our claim that this car has been maintained to the a very high standard.

The vendor says the car drives perfectly: ‘it’s typical 911 with a lovely engine sound that builds to a howl when you put the foot down. There’s no power steering, but it lightens at speed and provides lots of feedback.’ It’s also in what he describes as ‘beautifully original condition’.

As a Targa you get the benefits of a soft-top, but without its inherent compromises and as a non-Turbo performance is more linear and therefore handling more predictable. It looks to be a lovely, well-maintained example of this iconic German sports car, and one that you can buy and drive without worry.

Porsche prices went hell for leather for a decade and have softened slightly in the last year, but there remains a strong demand for the best examples of the air-cooled variants. We reckon this example will sell for between £65,000-£75,000 and for that you’ll be buying into the 1980s, but this time the red braces aren’t a necessity.

Viewing is always encouraged, and this particular car is located at the owner’s Durham home; to arrange an appointment please use the ‘Contact Seller’ button at the top of the listing. Feel free to ask any questions or make observations in the comments section below, or try our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.

If needed, please remember we have a network of trusted suppliers we work with regularly and can recommend: Classic & Sportscar Finance for purchase-financing, Thames Valley Car Storage for storing your car, AnyVan for transporting it, and Footman James for classic car insurance.

BORING, but IMPORTANT: Please note that whilst we at The Market always aim to offer the most descriptive and transparent auction listings available, we cannot claim they are perfect analyses of any of the vehicles for sale. We offer far greater opportunity for bidders to view, or arrange inspections for each vehicle thoroughly prior to bidding than traditional auctions, and we never stop encouraging bidders to take advantage of this. We do take a good look at the vehicles delivered to our premises for sale, but this only results in our unbiased personal observations, not those of a qualified inspector or other professional, or the result of a long test drive.

Additionally, please note that most of the videos on our site have been recorded using simple cameras which often result in 'average' sound quality; in particular, engines and exhausts notes can sound a little different to how they are in reality.