Classic Porsches for Sale

From the beginning, Porsche cars have been associated with performance and speed, and racing is a recurrent theme in the companyâ€™s history. Shortly after being road certified in 1948, the 356, which became Porscheâ€™s first production car, competed in a rac...

From the beginning, Porsche cars have been associated w...

From the beginning, Porsche cars have been associated with performance and speed, and racing is a recurrent theme in the company’s history. Shortly after being road certified in 1948, the 356, which became Porsche’s first production car, competed in a race and won its class. The car would continue in several evolved forms—356 A, 356 B, and 356 C, featuring ever more powerful versions of an air-cooled horizontally opposed four-cylinder—until 1955. And while the 356 built Porsche’s reputation in Europe and North America (and still enjoys highly collectible status today), its successor would not only define the brand but set the sports-car benchmark for decades.

That car, if you didn’t already know, is the 911. Its distinctive shape, round headlamps, upright windshield, and sloping roofline make it recognizable from afar. Like the 356, the 911 was powered by an air-cooled engine mounted in the rear, but it had six cylinders (its entry-level sibling, the 912, retained the four-pot). Endless variants would proliferate: 911E, 911T, 911 S, SC, plus the Carrera RS and RSR models, with ever-increasing engine displacement and power. And who could forget about the Turbo, first introduced in 1974 and known by its internal designation of 930?

In 1989, Porsche updated the 911, creating the 964 generation and adding the all-wheel-drive Carrera 4 model and optional Tiptronic automatic transmission along the way. The 993 followed as the final air-cooled 911, while the subsequent 996 brought in the water-cooled era. From there, the 911 generational names follow a confusion progression of 997, 991, 991.2, and 992. What’s important, however, is that from the base Carrera to the performance-oriented GT3 and GT2 models, the 911 is lauded as one of the best driving experiences money can buy.

That’s all the more interesting considering the 911 almost didn’t make it. Porsche intended to replace the rear-engine icon with the front-engine 928, but the latter failed to eclipse the 911 in sales. Today, the 928 remains an appealing grand-touring car and, along with the smaller 924, 944, and 968, proves Porsche’s excellence is not restricted by engine location.

The Stuttgart automaker also has a history of building mid-engine cars, starting with the 914 and followed by several generations of the Boxster convertible and Cayman coupe, plus the 959, Carrera GT, and 918 Spyder supercars. And now, the brand makes a vehicle with no engine at all: The Taycan, a pricey but critically acclaimed four-door, is Porsche’s first EV.

And then there are the SUVs. In 2002, the Cayenne seemed almost antithetical to the company that made the 911, but the ute quickly outsold the sports car and gave Porsche a much-needed infusion of cash. Then came the Macan crossover, which garnered much acclaim. Porsche’s SUVs continue to drive the bulk of its sales, offering some of the same sporting flavor in a more versatile package. But while the company is no longer singularly focused on sports cars, it remains dedicated to performance, an attribute that gives Porsches of every vintage a lasting appeal among automotive enthusiasts.