Original Owner: 1999 Porsche Boxster – Sold!

Update: This one got away, but if you have your heart set on something similar, email us the details of what you’re looking for or call Rudy directly at (908)295-7330

Avid followers of GuysWithRides.com know one of the cars in our very modest collection is a Zenith Blue Metallic Porsche 986 Boxster Base similar to the Pastel Yellow 1999 example listed on Craigslist in Pitman, New Jersey with a stated 55,000 original miles with an asking price of $8,500.   Researching the Hagerty Insurance Online Valuation Tool confirms this private seller has his Boxster priced $700 below the current #3 “Good” estimate of $9,200. 

The car that saved Porsche.  While today the brand continues to perform very well and now offers six model lines, people either forget or are too young to know that by the early 90’s the company was on brink of financial ruin with only three dated models (the last air-cooled 993 911, the 928, and the 968 version of the twenty-year-old 924) made woefully uncompetitive due to an unfavorable exchange rate and a very expensive, virtually hand-built manufacturing process across three distinct model lines.

Porsche Executive Horst Marchant held the belief that more efficient manufacturing and higher sales volume were the keys to having the brand staying afloat.  His idea was to have two different models that could be designed using many of the same front-end components. This would save money because the A-pillar forward is where most of the development costs of an automobile are incurred.

The entry model, volume leader would be the Boxster.  Designed alongside the 911, it had to share quite a bit with the upcoming water-cooled 996. Several engine designs were considered, including four-cylinder units, but in the end a version of the “New Generation” flat-six was used for the Boxster. It was similar to the unit eventually released in the water-cooled 996 version of the 911, but displaced 2.5 liters in a mid-engine layout instead of the 3.4 of the 996 911 which was still placed in the rear of the car.

Grant Larson’s design, inspired by Porsche’s 356 Cabriolet, Speedster, and 550 Spyder, was such a huge hit when it premiered at the North American International Auto Show in January 1993 that development work began immediately to get the car into production by the end of 1996 for the 1997 model year.  Unlike the bare-bones cars that inspired its design, the modern 986 Boxster was a comfortable and convenient sports car owners could drive every day.  Early demand was so great that Porsche had to contract manufacturing to Valmet in Finland once production of the new 996 911 began one year later.

Here’s Porsche’s launch video of the car that we still love to watch.

With approximately forty percent of all 986 Boxsters painted silver, we love seeing one for sale in a rare color such as this Pastel Yellow example.   As long as a pre-purchase inspection doesn’t find any serious defects and the original owner can provide all of the maintenance records since his Boxster was new, you’ll be buying a fun and practical Boxster that gains you entrance to the Porsche Club of America.  Good luck with the purchase!

Here’s the seller’s description:

“Creamy Yellow Porsche, 55,000. mi., great condition, Original Owner, runs good, recently serviced, Garage kept, Asking $8500. Call- 201-362-2988. Originally purchased at Cherry Hill Porsche.
Negotiable! Price Reduced!!!

**IMPORTANT NOTE: https://imsretrofit.com/ims-101/

If your shopping for a Boxster or 911, you must read about the Intermediate Shaft bearing issue for some of these vehicles. It will be an expensive fix if you buy either model that requires a retrofit fix. This Boxster has a dual row intermediate shaft bearing (factory installed from new) which means that it Does Not require pulling the engine out, taken apart, and fixed. Save thousands of dollars by doing your due diligence and avoid a bad investment.  This 1999 vintage Boxster falls right on the border of whether it has the dual-row or the more problematic single-row bearing.

Do you have a Porsche Boxster story you’d like to share?  Comment below and let us know!