PORSCHE'S GREATEST HITS, VOL. 2

THE 911 SPORT CLASSIC IS A COLLECTOR'S EDITION OF ALL THE COMPANY'S MOST BELOVED WORKS.

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I REMEMBER STUMBLING upon the original Porsche 911 Sport Classic on a near-deserted stand at the stifling 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show. I shrugged at it as I shuffled past, jet-lagged, hungover, and sweating a worrying amount. My judgment, in that moment, might not have been entirely sound. But even after resting, hydrating, and returning to a country with functioning air-conditioning, I still didn’t really get the Sport Classic. It wore a ducktail spoiler on its engine lid and black Fuchs-style wheels at each corner. I assumed that the show car must be some sort of rolling advertisement for a line of retro-tinged accessories that the company would begin selling.

All Sport Classics come with number circle decals. Buyers can specify a two-digit number or choose to simply peel off the stickers.

Wrong. Porsche planned to build 250 examples of this tarted-up 997-generation Carrera S and price each at $225,000 (in today’s dollars). I mean, the Alcantara-covered coat hooks are nice and all, but come on! At an RM Sotheby’s auction in Phoenix in 2019, a low-miles Sport Classic sold for $654,000. This in a country where the Sport Classic was never even sold when new.

It's the little differences. The Porsche crest with orange bars (instead of red) is the subtlest of retro touches.