HEMMINGS STOCK EXCHANGE – IMPORTED COLLECTIBLES 1954-1958 Porsche 356 Speedster
A case of buyers’ frenzy, or just a market correction?
WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAVID LaCHANCE
It seems like only yesterday that the best Porsche 356 Speedsters on the market were pushing against the
six-figure barrier. Today, that barrier
has not only been broken, but shredded
into little bits and incinerated, with its
ashes scattered to the four winds. Even a
driver-quality Speedster now commands
$100,000, and you can double that for tro-phy-winning examples from respected
specialists.
A fad? A bubble? No one knows for sure,
but we’d say probably not. According
to Alex Finegan of Paul Russell & Company, who watches 356 prices as closely
as anyone on the planet, the bite that the
recent economic downturn has taken
of Speedster values is relatively modest. The best 1958 Speedster in the world
would probably bring about $200,000 to
$225,000 today, down 10 to 20 percent from
Value Trend
$15,000
$30,000
$45,000
$60,000
$75,000
$90,000
$105,000
$120,000
$135,000
$150,000
$165,000
1983
$163,000
the $250,000 high-water mark of a little
more than a year ago. That means that,
as an investment, top-notch Speedsters
have done better than a lot of stock portfolios. And the demand remains strong,
Alex said. “It’s the age-old thing: The
best of the best are still selling. I could
sell great [Speedsters] every day.”
A number of things seem to have been
working in the Speedster’s favor. For one,
the 50th anniversary of the model’s introduction was celebrated in 2004, with some
high-profile events that helped bring the
car to the attention of a large number of
enthusiasts and collectors. The positive
publicity could only have boosted values;
as Alex, who owns a Speedster, points
out, “they’re a blast to drive.”
And then there’s the high recognition
factor the Speedster continues to enjoy.
Built by Porsche at the urging of legendary importer Max
Hoffman, who correctly predicted
that Americans
would take to a
lighter, less expensive version of
the 356 that could
be raced on Sunday and driven to
work on Monday,
$65,000
the Speedster has a rakish profile that
makes it stand out from the crowd. Even
non-enthusiasts have a good chance of
identifying one, especially if the top is
up and the side curtains in place.
Alex believes there’s another contributing cause to the Speedster’s sudden
rise in value: “Personally, I think that
they had lagged behind other cars in the
past,” he said. “Speedsters were selling
for $100,000 when [comparable] Ferraris
and Jaguars were $200,000. When people
realized what they [the Speedsters] were,
they just went crazy.” The later the Speedster, the higher the price tag; earlier cars
tend to be worth $150,000 to $165,000 in
show condition, he said.
Despite the sharp spike, the numbers
show that the Porsche has, in fact, just
been catching up with the Joneses —cars
like the Series 1 E-Type Jaguar, whose
market value rose from $68,000 to $130,000
over the past five years, and the Dino 246
Spider, which has risen from $69,000 to
$182,000 over the same period. The rise in
values is why you won’t find many rough
Speedsters around—this is one of the
few cars that could be bought, restored
and sold at a profit, which means that
most of them have already been done.
$55,000 $49, 500
$42,000
$17, 500
1988
1993
1998
2003
2008
24 HEMMINGS MOTOR NEWS • OCTOBER 2009
