At last count, I have owned 34 different Porsche 911s/912s over the years. When I was just 15 years old and in high school, my first real job was working in an air-cooled Porsche shop in Tucson, Arizona, and my first 901-series Porsche car was a 1968 912 Targa. Given that information, you probably can guess I have a soft spot for these removable-top cars, which combine the best of a convertible and a coupe in one impressive package. It should come as no surprise, then, that my Pick of the Day is a 1987 Porsche 911 Carrera Targa listed for sale on ClassicCars.com by a dealer located in Fredericksburg, Virginia.
Of all the various 911s I have owned — which include a few long-hood 911S models and even a 1973 Carrera RS — my favorites remain the G-body cars built from 1978-89. These were the Porsche cars of my childhood and the ones I honestly feel were the best-built air-cooled 911s ever. They offer everything the early cars offer but are more comfortable and better-looking in that they really don’t look like “old cars” the way long-hood 911s do.
This 911 Carrera is described as being finished in its original color of Metallic Silver over a nicely contrasting white leather interior. The seller calls it “a well-preserved example from the final years of the G-body era,” which combined the robust 3.2-liter engine with the more modern and highly desirable G50 gearbox.
The exterior of this car seems to be in excellent condition, with the paint appearing to be in nice shape and all the black trim looking great. This Carrera is equipped with the factory-correct Carrera rear spoiler, which is different from the often-added tea-tray-style 930 item. The seller says the Targa top has been recently refinished, which is an expensive undertaking. This Carrera Targa rides on factory-correct and original 16-inch Fuchs forged alloy wheels fitted with correctly sized 205/65R15 front and 225/60R15 rear tires.
The interior is just as nice, with what I would call “patina” more than actual wear on what appear to be nicely cared-for original white leather seats. There are no cracks anywhere on the dash, which leads me to think it was either replaced with a new factory dash or the car has been stored incredibly well. Regardless, that’s good news, as these dashes are almost always cracked. It gets even better: The carpets and door panels are also in amazing condition, as are the black door caps. I love that instead of having some dumb aftermarket head unit, this Carrera still has a Blaupunkt Denver head unit on the dash, which is period-correct for a Carrera of this era.
Under the decklid is the completely stock 3.6-liter boxer-six engine. Everything looks clean and completely as it should be. In fact, the engine compartment looks as if it’s attached to a car that has been loved its entire life. The seller states this Carrera has a total of 101,000 miles from new.
Prices for the later G-body 911s (those built from 1978-89) have been climbing steadily for the last five or so years. Given that, the asking price for this very nice, unmodified 1987 Porsche 911 Carrera Targa is a very reasonable $74,900 — hard to beat with any other 1980s high-end sports car. This is a car that you can literally own for the rest of your life with no reason to ever replace it.
Click here to view this Pick of the Day on ClassicCars.com