Update

Stuttgart cars get the year off to a shaky start at auctions in Phoenix, Arizona

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Used Porsche cars returned a mixed showing at the first auctions of 2018 in Scottsdale, with collectors now holding out for only the very rarest of examples. A clear case in point was lot 144 in the Gooding & Co sale, where a 2,600mile 997.2 GT3 RS offered with no recorded track time sold for $198,000, some way below its $225,000 lower estimate. Porsche produced around 1,500 examples of the 997.2 GT3 RS worldwide between 2010 and 2011.

However, the Porsche sale of the weekend also took place at Gooding & Co’s auction as a two-owner, 1973 2.4-litre Targa in Kelly green smashed its $260,000 upper estimate, the hammer eventually falling at $313,000. The car had covered just 3,400 miles. Other Porsche highlights from Gooding & Co included a 15,000mile 993 Carrera 4S selling for $132,000, and a sympathetically restored 1970 2.2-litre 911S which realised $209,000.

Scores of 911 sales fell short of their lower estimates, including a 1967 SWB 911S

(sold for $209,000 with a lower estimate of $250,000) and a 1989 Speedster, which realised $192,000 (against a $225,000 lower estimate). Interestingly though, Scottsdale proved a happy hunting ground for the 964 RS America, with two examples selling for $88,000 and $117,000. This ensured a marked rise for the Us-only special, of which just 701 examples were built.