Porsche 964 911 Turbo S Lightweight Ignites Bidding War!

Supremely rare vintage Porsche brings big bucks at Silverstone auction.

When Silverstone’s May auction came to a conclusion, a grand total of just over $4.6 million in fine automobiles found new owners. And of course, a series of desirable Porsches made up a sizable percentage of that total. The most expensive of which was this 1993 911 Turbo S Lightweight (Leichtbau) that raked in an impressive $723,826.

The 964 911 Turbo S Lightweight, one of only 86 built, finally hammered after an intense bidding war erupted. Eventually two bidders emerged and pushed the final price a full $18,000-plus over the lower estimate. A 1989 911 Speedster and 1961 356B Cabriolet also exceeded their lower estimates by $25k and $31k, respectively.

But this stunning Lightweight was the star of the show, for obvious reasons. Porsche set out to build only 25-50 examples of the lightweight, road legal, more powerful Turbo. But they exceeded their goals quite handily, in both production and power. Actual power output landed at 381 hp, and Porsche managed to shave nearly 400 pounds from the stock Turbo.

This particular Lightweight is number 51 of 86, and is only one of six painted in Gloss Black. It shows a little over 42,000 undocumented miles on the odometer and lacks a detailed history prior to its U.K. registration in 2014. Interestingly enough, however, it carries a country code of C99, which indicates that the car might have originally been specified as a “racing vehicle.” Yet, a roll cage was never fitted.

Even with the history of the car either missing or unclear, it’s obvious that collectors weren’t too put off. And it’s possible that car #51 is a special car that was either built at the Weissach motorsport facility or went through Porsche’s “Special Wish” program. Regardless of its true origin, however, any 964 911 Turbo S Lightweight is special in our book. And clearly, bidders at Silverstone agree.