Porsche 944 2.7 Litre

This lot will be auctioned via Iconic Auctioneers, The Iconic Sale at the NEC Classic Motor Show 2025 on Saturday the 8th of November, NEC, Birmingham, B40 1NT. , The 944 has been an enthusiast’s car since its launch in 1982, offering a level of value, prestige, performance and engineering that led to some 163,000 examples being sold and making it one of the most successful production models in Porsche’s history. A well rounded evolution of the narrower, rather 'budget' 924 from 1976, the 944 was offered as a coupé and cabriolet with a luxurious interior that matched the similarly styled, range-topping, 968. Handsome, yet significantly cheaper to run on a daily basis than the V8-powered 968 and the fancier 911, the 944 was a huge hit in the UK, with the majority hitting seven figures on their odometers. Consequently, most did not survive our climate and the uneconomic demands of stern MOT testers, resulting in remaining examples of varying quality. Very few were treated to five figure restorations.With a decade of global sales and numerous engine upgrades the model may seem ubiquitous to the UK classic market, but the single year production of the 944 2.7-litre, and the UK-supplied C16 cars delivered, puts this example perhaps among the rarest surviving modern-classic Porsches of the last 30 years. Whilst official production numbers for the UK are not available, it is understood that 2,730 2.7-litre cars were supplied to 'the rest of the world' and 2,691 were sold to the US, Canada and Japan. A conservative calculation based on historic UK-supplied Porsche production numbers average out at some 10% but may be less for the 2.7-litre manual model, and with sources claiming just 12 automatics were supplied for the UK-market, we can safely assume this manual example is truly a rarity.Supplied by Coopers of Exeter on 1st January 1989 in the brochure colour of Velvet Red with a Burgundy interior and matching velvet pinstripe, it was optioned with headlamp washers, white front fog lights, an alarm system, ABS braking and still today has its very rare original Porsche sunroof bag. The original book pack includes the well stamped service book that evidences comprehensive servicing, whilst the history file includes additional historic maintenance receipts, the most recent of which was by noted Porsche specialists, Parr of West Sussex, who carried out a major cambelt service (£2,791) in 2023, less than 239 miles ago. However, the four-page documented glass-out repaint on file is naturally the most noteworthy, costing some £13,000. Described by the Porsche Club of Great Britain as 'very well presented and fully restored', we would note that the interior bears original fixtures.Presented to auction with an odometer reading of 80,409 miles at the time of cataloguing, a detailed history file, the aforementioned receipts, bookpacks, an original sales brochure of a 944 in the same colour, Porsche Certificate of Authenticity, and an advisory-free MOT Certificate valid until 14th July 2026.