"Okay, what's a Boxter? The name evokes images
of some Volvo venture ;-) "
***** NOTES from Jay Laifman (JLAIFMAN @ PNM) at 1/9/97 1:47p
The Boxter is the new mid-engine Porsche that is made in the style of the
early 550 spyders - like the one James Dean drove to the great beyond.
It is the hotest sports car I've seen for a long time.
The "Box" comes from a boxer engine, that is, flat opposed pistons, in
this case 6. New to Porsche boxer engines is that it is water cooled
(as will be all their future engines - they reached to cooling
abilities of air cooled). The "ster" comes from "Speedster".
Originally, this car was one of those "concept" cars at the 1993 Detroit
car show. There was such an out cry for the car, including people putting
down $10,000 deposits, that Porsche agreed to make the car. It took over
4 years, and it is finally out. They had to change it a bit to make
things fit a real car (the concept car had 911 front axels bolted to both
the front and rear, some of the external scoops and vents had to be
moved and bumper and size requirements had an impact). But, it is pretty
close. Along the way there were rumors that there would be two models: a
4 cylinder (a la 912) at $35K, and a 6 cylinder at $60K. Then it was one
model at $39K. As it turns out, the stripped version goes for $39,980
(fully loaded at $50K), with a more HiPo car coming out next year in the
$60's. But, most if not all of the cars are already spoken for with
deposits sitting at dealers. Some people are selling their spots in line
for $4,000 (actually not much compared to the premiums I've heard other
cars go for).
Pictures don't do it full justice. In person, it is a curled up ball of
fire ready to explode down the Autobahn. I'm looking forward to finding
one in 10 years that is still to be bought by a little old lady in
Pasadena.
Jay Laifman
Pircher, Nichols & Meeks
Los Angeles
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