How Rare is Your 997 GTS?

How Many 997 GTS Cabriolets are Identical to My Car?

No two are alike and any self respecting Porsche owner can prove it to you!  Jokes aside, with 997 GTS values rising and anecdotes about buyers searching for years to find the right car, I started to wonder how many 997 GTS cabriolets are identical to my car.

Remember the Great Recession?  Without even considering models and options, tough economic times meant lower production overall.  Like most manufacturers, Porsche lowered output during this period.  The stats show that 997.2 production accounted for only ~35% of the overall 997 run.

Using the same data to focus the lens, we can see that GTSs only represented ~9% of the total 997.2 production.  While the GTS model isn’t ‘numbered’, they were produced in limited quantities.  Add that ~60% of the GTSs were delivered as coupes, and it was starting to look good for my cabriolet.  If only I could get more details on how the cars were spec-ed.

While it was widely believed that Porsche built most 997.2s with the new PDK transmission, it wasn’t until @Prairiedawg, @BodyinWhite, @bluelines1974, and @nwGTS did the pick & shovel work outlined in this Rennlist post to show the mix between cars with manual transmissions and the PDK.

While their aim was to prove that most GTSs were delivered with the PDK transmission, the pivot table they produced provided the missing link I needed to answer my question.  I was able to identify VINs for the 21 Meteor Grey 997 GTS Cabriolets delivered with a manual transmission in the US. 

Armed with VINs for the 21 cars, I turned to VINanalytics for the option list on each car.  I did see a few discrepancies in their free data.  After contacting VINAnalytics directly and running a few VIN searches independently, I was able to produce an accurate profile of the 21 cars.

The mash-up allowed me to compare how my 997 GTS spec compares to the overall population of Meteor Grey Cabriolets delivered with a manual transmission in the US:

You can see from the table that I have a ‘1 of 1’ car as mine is the only one spec-ed with the Alcantara Storage Lid with Logo (see featured image above for a partial shot of this unexpected difference maker).  It’s a small difference, but I’ll take it!

Twelve of the other cars have ‘1 of 1’ options also making them unique.  In my opinion, the most interesting of the unique options is the car spec-ed with PCCBs.  Most of the other unique specs are cosmetic like the Alcantara Storage Lid.  One car has 5 options that aren’t included on any of the other 20 cars, although on average each unique car has just 1 unique option.

Sadly, I also learned that at least one of the 21 cars is wrecked.

If you have a 997 GTS, use the data I’ve shared here to run your own analysis.  While it’s fun to have a ‘1 of 1’ car, there is so much more to like about the GTS than the stats!