1995 Porsche 911 (993) Cabriolet

Welcome to our latest auction listing, this time for a Porsche 911 ‘993’ Convertible rear-wheel drive. In the care of the vendor for the past five years, it comes with a comprehensive maintenance history that includes every one of its old MOT certificates, a clear HPI certificate, and a pre-purchase inspection report that was carried out less than 3,000 miles ago.

Offering the complete 911 experience with the added benefit of open-air motoring, this iconic sportscar was first registered on the 31st of December 1995. Because it is fitted with the 3.6-litre engine and the versatile Tiptronic gearbox, this is a 911 that can play city slicker as easily as it can trackday hero.

Only now for sale because the owner fancies treating himself to a Jaguar E-Type, this is your chance to get your hands on the perfect summer sportscar at a very sensible price.

As you’d expect of a Porsche with a clear HPI certificate, this is a car with no stories to tell. This means the bodywork is very impressive; with what appears factory-tight panel gaps and straight, dent-free panels, it stands as a testament to Porsche build quality, even after a quarter of a century and 100,000 miles.

The wide-hipped rear wheelarches add a muscularity we love and its purposeful stance is further enhanced by the Black Pearl paintwork. The paint is in great shape – and that even taking into account the fact that black is an unforgiving colour that shows up every single blemish, no matter how small.

Sure, there is the odd minor stonechip (many of which have been already touched-up) but there is nothing to worry about here at all and we’re pretty sure you could give it a quick detail and then walk off with a prize at your local car show.

Fitted with clear front indicator lenses, the Porsche’s rear spoiler deploys as it should.

As does the folding black fabric roof, which is in great shape, furling and unfurling as it should. There is no damage either bar a very small scuff near the rear of the driver’s door; please see the photo for details.

The alloy wheels are in a good condition, being free of major damage and kerbing with the exception of a small mark to the rear nearside wheel. The wheels are shod with matching Pirelli tyres.

As we will never tire of explaining, our experience shows that matching high-quality tyres are an infallible sign of a caring and mechanically sympathetic owner who is prepared to spend the appropriate amount in maintaining their car properly. Their presence does not, of course, preclude the need for a thorough inspection - something the vendor would welcome, by the way – but do give you a shortcut into their attitude towards maintenance.

Work to do? Well, nothing really. You could touch up some of the stonechips if you get bored, and the nearside rear wheel could be refurbished if the small mark offends your OCD, but if it were ours we’d leave well-alone and just enjoy driving it free of the fear that driving a concours car instills in us all.

Look, we know the ergonomics are a bit random but there’s no denying the quality; with an indestructible feel to even the minor switchgear, it all still works and could pass for a car a third of its age.

So, you’ll find that the grey leather seats are still firm and supportive, and are only very gently creased. Electrically operated, they work as they should. The rear seats look to be practically unused, which won’t come as a surprise to anyone who has ever tried to shoehorn a real person into them. In fact, we’d bet that they’ve been kept folded down, and the carpeted space used as a useful place to keep your coats and soft bags.

The door cards are good too, and the interior of the fabric hood is clean, taut and free of damage. The hood frame is equally impressive being straight and free of damage and corrosion.

The carpets are in great shape, and lifting them shows clean metal floors with no signs of serious corrosion and only a light smattering of surface rust.

The 911 even a natty built-in wind deflector fitted to the frame of the hood. This is deployed automatically when the roof is lowered and helps ensure ruffle-free motoring at any sane speed. However, with this in place the ability to use the rear seats is compromised but it can be easily removed (and stored in the supplied bag) in which case all four seats can be occupied.

The car is fitted with two immobilisers, both of which work. The air-conditioning was serviced and recharged by Hartech when the vendor bought the car five years ago, but while the pump etc., all still work fine, he has told us that it isn’t as cold as it could be.

The front boot is well-organised and home to a comprehensive toolkit, what looks like a newish Bosch battery, and the car’s spacesaver spare wheel. The bonnet has been fitted with ‘Nitro-Lift’ struts to ease its progress and to ensure it stays open when it should. The carpet is in a very good condition.

A car cover, complete with storage bag, comes with the Porsche.

If we’re being picky then there are a couple of small marks near the ignition switch and the boot could do with dusting. That this, along with the need to catch the minor surface rust on the floor (or is it just old glue?) before it takes hold, is the extent of the interior work that’s needed is all the reassurance you should need that this is a very carefully curated example indeed.

Having covered so few miles recently the owner has been carrying out his own oil changes. Prior to his buying the car five years and under 3,000 miles ago, the Porsche was professionally maintained; please see the invoices for details.

We have driven the car and found no faults no faults, in fact we discovered that it drove exactly like you would expect a well-maintained 911 of this vintage to.

The Porsche is fitted with coilover suspension that is fully adjustable, so the ride height could be raised. We can wholeheartedly recommend Center Gravity, should the new owner want to change the suspension height and geometry.

The engine bay is pretty clean and doesn’t set any alarm bells ringing, and nor does the underside, which is straight and free of corrosion.

The Porsche’s MOT certificate expires in May 2021. The owner tells us that the car comes with every single expired MOT certificate plus a sheaf of invoices and bills to confirm the recent work that has been done to it plus two keys.

It also comes with a pre-purchase inspection report from Hartech, the well-respected independent Porsche specialists. It is dated June 2015 and 99,703 miles. This report is available online to view, and includes a cylinder compression test, which enthusiasts will know is essential to help rule out problems with the cylinder head studs, which are prone to corroding.

Hartech also carried out a full ‘Gold Major’ service at the same time, and also recharged and checked the air-conditioning system, changed the brake fluid, and made some adjustments to the suspension geometry. The final bill came to £1,386.

The HPI certificate from the same period shows nothing of any concern.

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 in recent years to the very highest standard.

If you’d like to inspect the car prior to placing a bid – something we would encourage – then please use the Contact Seller button to arrange an appointment.

NB. We know that many of you will be limiting your social exposure over the coming days and weeks, so if you’d rather not come to see the car in person, please give us a call and we can shoot a personal video of the car honing in on any areas you’d like us to concentrate on.

Or, even better, why not contact us with your mobile number and we can set up a WhatsApp video call? You get to direct us in real-time, giving you a virtual personal viewing experience while maintaining the lockdown. We like to call it ‘The Market’s 2020 Vision’…

The Porsche 993 is rightly revered; as the last of the air-cooled 911s, it holds a special place in the hearts of Porsche enthusiasts worldwide, and few 993 models are as widely admired as the convertible.

Offering the very best of all worlds, it is sufficiently weatherproof that you can run one all year, and yet with the roof down you have the sort of multi-sensory overload that drivers of the coupe will never get to experience.

Which makes our estimate of between £30,000 and £35,000 seem like very good value to us for a car as carefully curated as this.

Viewing is always encouraged, and this particular car is located with us at The Market HQ near Abingdon; 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, Footman James for classic car insurance Thames Valley Car Storage for storing your car and AnyVan for transporting it.

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.

Also, localized paint repairs are common with collectable and classic cars and if they have been professionally carried out then they may be impossible to detect, even if we see the car in person. So, unless we state otherwise, please assume that any vehicle could have had remedial bodywork at some point in its life.

 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.

Please note that this is sold as seen and that, as is normal for used goods bought at auction, the Sale of Goods Act 1979 does not apply. See our FAQs for more info, and feel free to inspect any vehicle as much as you wish.