Flachbau or Flat-nose
An independent tuning company called Kremer Racing introduced the “Flat-nose.” Kremer gave their Porsche racecars the “flat-nose” treatment to increase aerodynamic efficiency, resulting in a 20–25 mph higher top speed. Porsche soon adopted this design for their own racecars and introduced a customer optioned Flat-nose through their exclusive Special-Wishes program.
1989 Porsche 911 Turbo 'Flat Nose' Coupe. Estimate $200,000–250,000.
RM Sotheby’s: Amelia Island
9 March | Amelia Island
Carrera Cup
The Porsche Carrera Cup is a customer racing series that began in 1986. In order to qualify for the series you had to buy a special track-oriented model from Porsche called the “911 Carrera Cup.” Often called “Cup Cars,” very few examples were converted to be street legal, as many had early histories spent exclusively on the racetrack.
1991 Porsche 911 Carrera Cup. Estimate $250,000–325,000.
RM Sotheby’s: Amelia Island
9 March | Amelia Island
Wide-body
Sometimes called “Turbo-look,” wide-body refers to any Porsche with the extra wide rear fenders seen on 930 and 964 turbo models. The wider fender allowed for a wider tire to be used, which helped the snappy and powerful turbo motor with traction issues.
1991 Porsche 911 Turbo 3.3. Estimate $200,000–250,000.
RM Sotheby’s: Amelia Island
9 March | Amelia Island
Carrera
The Spanish word for “race.” First used with certain models of the Porsche 356 in the mid-1950s, the name commemorates the company’s success at the 1953 Carrera Panamericana in Mexico. Since 1955 there has always been at least one Porsche model in production with the word Carrera in its name.
1992 Porsche 911 Carrera RS. Estimate $200,000–250,000.
RM Sotheby’s: Amelia Island
9 March | Amelia Island
RS
There is no badge as important in the Porsche world as RS. These revered letters were first introduced by Porsche on the RS 60 in 1960 and stood for RennSport, the German word for racing, or more accurately motorsports. Cars bearing the RS moniker are known to be the most hardcore street-legal Porsches you can buy.
1993 Porsche 911 Carrera RS 3.8. Estimate $1,250,000–1,500,000.
RM Sotheby’s: Amelia Island
9 March | Amelia Island
RSA or RS America
American safety and emissions regulations meant that Porsche’s Carrera RS, arguably the most desirable Porsche of the 1980s and 1990s for driving enthusiasts, could not be sold anywhere in the United States. America was by far Porsche’s largest market, and therefore a detuned version of the RS was produced – the RS America.
1993 Porsche 911 Carrera RS America. Estimate $200,000–250,000.
RM Sotheby’s: Amelia Island
9 March | Amelia Island
RSR
RSR stands for RennSport Rennwagen, which translates somewhat clumsily to English as “Racing Racecar.” The important distinction with an RS model is that RSR means a track only, non-street legal, pure racecar.
1993 Porsche 911 Carrera RSR 3.8. Estimate $1,200,000–1,400,000.
RM Sotheby’s: Amelia Island
9 March | Amelia Island
Leichtbau
Leichtbau, which translates to "light build," refers to a special series of 964 Turbo S models that were made by Porsche Exclusive. In order to shed an impressive 397 pounds over the standard Turbo S, Porsche omitted air conditioning, sound deadening and power steering, and added aluminum doors and a Kevlar hood.
1993 Porsche 911 Turbo S 'Leichtbau.' Estimate $1,000,000–1,200,000.
RM Sotheby’s: Amelia Island
9 March | Amelia Island
Speedster
The speedster body style hails back to Porsche’s earliest history, and the marque’s first major success in America. The original Speedster, dating to 1954, was an “economy” version of the Porsche 356, meant to appeal to American driving enthusiasts looking for an affordable European sports car. The original speedster had no side windows, a smaller windshield, no back seats, fewer gauges, less upholstery and no roof. To this day, Porsche has largely maintained the original Speedster design ethos, though many modern models do feature side windows, and none would qualify as an “economy” model.
1994 Porsche 911 Speedster. Estimate $200,000–250,000.
RM Sotheby’s: Amelia Island
9 March | Amelia Island
X83
X83 was the option code for the 964 Turbos S Flachbau, only available in the Japanese market. The car featured a 930 Turbo S front end with pop-up headlights and produced 60% more power than the standard Turbo S. Only ten were built, all of them in Polar Silver, making the X83 one of the rarest production Porsches ever built.
1994 Porsche 911 Turbo S X83 'Flachbau.' Estimate $500,000–650,000.
RM Sotheby’s: Amelia Island
9 March | Amelia Island
X85
X85 was the option code for the 964 Turbo S Flachbau, only available in the American market. The car featured a 968 style front end, as opposed to the X83’s 930 style with covered pop-up headlights. Only 39 X85 cars were built.
1994 Porsche 911 Turbo S X85 'Flachbau.' Estimate $600,000–800,000.
RM Sotheby’s: Amelia Island
9 March | Amelia Island
The 964 generation of Porsches, produced from 1989–1994, was a notoriously nuanced series of cars, with a number of important options, engines and body configurations available. This March at Amelia Island, RM Sotheby’s is poised the offer “Exclusively Porsche – The 964 Collection,” a group of twelve cars that could be the most complete collection of 964 specials in the world. With cars ranging from the RSA to the X83, many of which are in the eye-catching "speed yellow," this auction is the perfect opportunity to brush up on key Porsche terminology. Click ahead to preview the collection and learn the difference between a Flachbau, a Leichtbau and more. –Jake Auerbach
RM Sotheby’s: Amelia Island
9 March | Amelia Island