Anorak Question

[Matt]

watching the banter regarding RHD vs LHD on one of the other threads, it got me thinking about the relative value of the RS dependant on the rarity of the colour - and whether it actually exists or not, or is the perceived desireability of the colour the determinant - ie must be tough to sell pink 964's in this day and age whereas Maritime ones will always be in demand due to the fact that its the best colour [][][]

Homework for Wednesday night therefore:

Question 1: Two identical RS's one in undesirable colour for modern cars (ie White) compared to one in desirable colour for modern cars (ie Silver) is there a price difference?

Question 2: Two identical RS's - one with a colour allegedly found on only 3 cars (ie lemon yellow) compared to desirable silver - is there a premium for the rarer colour?

Question 3: anyone know exactly how many were made in each colour?

 

[Yoda]

Answer to all three question, as Wesley Snipes famously said in Passenger 57: "Always bet on black"

I bet Paul (RSR) could fill in the blanks based on his extensive experience, would be interesting. Must be down to personal preference, mine would be:
1. £1k extra for silver
2. I would pay extra for yellow because I like it not because it is rare
3. Sounds like a Mel/Des/Paul question. I am sure the data exists.

Regards

 

[SimonExtreme]

Matt

I bleive that value comes from desirability rather than just rareness. However, if you can get both, so much the better. I also belive that while there will always be people who go for the latest colour which will look dated in a few years time (Rubystone!), the car buying public will normally choose new the colours which are also most in demand later in life. There are exceptions, as in the case of Maritime, where there weren't enough new cars to satisfy future demand. That's why I have a GR car. Maritime was my first choice but I would be still waiting today (6 months later) if I hadn't gone for my second favorite colour.

I don't think that your question is easy to answer. While I think there are colours that stop a car selling (Rubystone) and therefore make the cars worth less, I am not sure there are colours that make a car worth more. You would need to be a right poser to pay a significant premium for a particular coloured RS just because of the colour (black [])

 

[Yoda]

Or to have the wheel on the wrong side [] Sorry, OT. I'll behave.

 

[Laurence Gibbs]

That's a difficult set of questions to answer. On other 911's the answer is much simpler. Blue, silver and darker reds and grey's are popular on 993's 996 and Boxster with yellow and guards red being less favoured (although they appear to be making a comeback with the new boxster and 997) with white being probably the worst buying choice when it comes to selling later.
On a RS i think it's less clear. They tend to look good in the brighter shades so it becomes almost the opposite to the other Porsches, with white being a popular choice(cup car looks I guess). I don't think there is much in it when it comes to value though. Rubystone is probably not everyones choice and might be the only one that "might" fetch slightly less but my bet is that people tend to buy on condition first with the RS. As for the "colour to sample " cars like lemon yellow well of course there should be a premium for these[][]

 

[Guest]

depends on the individual buyer surely and how much of a poseur they are.......I clearly always look like I've climbed out of a hedge somewhere and QED except pink I didn't discount any colour when I looked for the right car and wouldn't have paid a premium if I'd been confronted by two cars the same (mileage, history, mods blah blah). And I think we (folks buying "specialist" cars) also have less eye on resale generally, whereas someone buying anything less than an RS, GT3 etc has more of an eye on the resale perception of joe public and therefore prefers "muted" safe colours which favour silver etc.

that said clearly Maritime is the best colour, Red is the next best and Black, well what can I say![]

 

[RSR]

Ignore other models and just talking about RS:

From what I've experienced so far I'd say that condition sets the price not the colour. Yes I sell Rubystone cars for the same price as the same condition Maritime car, well close enough to discount any minor difference anyway.

What colour tends to do is influence how quickly it might sell because they appeal to a different size segment of the market. One might argue that the colour appealing to the smaller segment could achieve the same turnaround if it was cheaper, but in practice tends not to workout that way because you are either happy with the colour or not. This is because the colours like Rubystone tend to have no middle ground. You either like it or you absolutely hate it. Buyers tend not to be turned on to the colour because it is a bit cheaper.

So buyers tend to buy an RS on a condition versus price basis and fall in to one of these categories for the colour: have a small White list of colours they'd accept or they have a small Black list of colours they will never buy or there are buyers who just don't care at all on the colour, but instead will buy purely on condition.

The White list buyer is a small market segment and they could be looking for a long time for that Maritime car in perfect condition, but the White list buyer could equally have Rubystone on the list because they might love it.

The buyer who will accept any colour is also from a small market segment.

The Black list buyer is the largest market segment and will likely have some of the louder colours on their Black list. Dropping the price of the louder colours tends not to change their mind, so the sale of the less sought after colours is dictated by the number of people currently looking from one of the other groups.

This is just my view and what I've experienced from finding and supplying people with RS's.

 

[oldtimer]

I think RSR has made some good points . When I bought my RS I was really itching to get the first reasonable car that I could be out driving...for me the RS was about the driving experience rather than a beauty queen thing. If I had been more patient then the lemon yellow followed by maritime followed by mint green would have been the limited colour palette.
When I was looking, red was the most available but black was what I ended up with , only 28 000 km and the steering wheel in the best place [] . Half the km had been done in 6 years by a collector type ( look but dont touch) and the other half of the km had been done by a good driver in 12 months probably much of it on circuit.

 

[SimonExtreme]

ORIGINAL: oldtimer
............. but black was what I ended up with , only 28 000 km and the steering wheel in the best place [] .

Wow, oldtimer, you obviously have a very rare car - namely a RHD with a speedo in km's[][]

 

[Laurence Gibbs]

No he said the BEST place[]

 

[hunter]

Paul whats going on ,remember the days when we drove the rs hard, had fun and enjoyed life with a great car, these threads are deeply worrying maybe too many years under Tony and Cherie!!!!!!!

 

[rskiwi]

I think condition is the most important factor.
I have looked at two RHD Rubystones in the past fortnight, 1 for sale at £40000.00.
The other not for sale, spotted at trackday at Silverstone.
In my opinion the 2nd one must be worth £55000.00 if the 1st is worth £40!
I also think that Maritime is the most desireable, closely followed by Midnight Blue. Wheels must be Black!
and GENUINE MAGNESIUM.

 

[Tony]

When these cars were new they were aimed in part at a segmented of the market who would have the car painted to suite their own taste (hence I've seen one car in '73 RS Pastel Yellow another in Ferrari Fly yellow).
As time goes on and taste changes some colours fall out of favour - we move into a different financial market place so concern about reale value of colour becomes more important.

Personally I think the solid primary colours suite the car best - but I'd consider swapping my red one for silver, just 'cos it seems more unusal (on an RS)[]

Tony