Overview of the Porsche 911 Carrera 4 964
This is a genuinely significant piece of Porsche history offered directly out of the Japanese auction system: a 1989 (Heisei 1, August registration) Porsche 911 Carrera 4, built on the 964 generation chassis, chassis number WP0ZZZ96ZKS400510. The 964 was the car that dragged the air cooled 911 into the modern era, and the Carrera 4 launched the whole generation in 1989 as the first series production 911 with all wheel drive. This particular example is left hand drive, finished in colour code F5, recorded on the auction sheet as genuine Diamond Blue Metallic paint (noted by the seller despite an inspector question mark over whether the car may have been repainted grey at some stage), and it carries the 3.6 litre flat six matched to a five speed manual gearbox and Porsche's viscous coupled four wheel drive system.
The odometer reads 80,650 km, which converts to approximately 50,116 miles, a genuinely usable distance for a car of this age and one that suggests a life of active driving rather than static storage. It is being sold through USS Tokyo as lot 79008, carrying an auction grade of 3.5 with an interior sub grade of C, and it is listed as a first time auction entry, purchased directly from its previous owner rather than coming from a dealer stock trade. For buyers researching a Porsche 911 Carrera 4 964 from Japan, this is a rare chance to secure one of the earliest and most mechanically important 964 variants, complete with a fully translated and independently checked auction sheet so the condition story is laid out honestly before you bid.
The Drive Review
The 964 generation, and the Carrera 4 in particular, occupies a pivotal place in 911 history. Underneath the familiar silhouette, Porsche redesigned around eighty five percent of the car compared to the outgoing 3.2 Carrera: coil spring suspension replaced the old torsion bars, power steering arrived for the first time on a 911, ABS was standard, and the flat six grew to 3.6 litres producing a claimed 250 PS in Carrera 4 specification. The four wheel drive system, developed with input from Porsche's 959 supercar programme, split torque front to rear through a viscous coupling, giving genuinely useful traction without losing the rear biased character that defines the breed.
On the road the 964 Carrera 4 feels distinctly different to both the earlier air cooled cars and the water cooled 911s that followed. The engine still fires with that unmistakable flat six thrum, pulling cleanly from low revs and building with real urgency past 4,000 rpm, out to a redline that rewards you for using it. The five speed manual is deliberate and mechanical in feel, needing a firm, decisive hand rather than a light flick, and the clutch has genuine weight to it, the sort of tactile heaviness that modern performance cars have engineered away. Steering, now power assisted, is lighter than earlier 911s but still communicates road surface and front end grip with a directness that few contemporary cars can match. The four wheel drive system adds confidence in poor conditions and under hard acceleration, without turning the car into a numb, understeering device; it remains an analogue, engaging drive that asks to be worked rather than simply steered.
Weaknesses to be aware of with any 964 include the complexity and cost of the dual mass flywheel and clutch assembly, the potential for oil leaks around the various case seals typical of air cooled Porsche engines of this era, and electrical gremlins that can affect the era appropriate but sometimes fragile ancillary systems, air conditioning being a common weak point, which is directly relevant to a fault noted on this car's own inspection sheet. Bodywork corrosion at sills, wheel arches and the rear quarters is a known area to check carefully on any 964, again something this specific car's damage diagram touches on. None of this makes the model less desirable; it simply means a 964 needs to be bought with clear eyes and, ideally, a proper mechanical inspection after arrival.
Auction Details
This Porsche 911 Carrera 4 964 is being sold through USS Tokyo, one of Japan's largest and most respected auction houses, under lot number 79008, with the Japanese auction taking place on 1st October 2026. The auction start price is set at ¥3,480,000. Autoselecta's own guide bidding range for this car is £43,250 to £80,500. This guide is an estimated bidding range based on the specification, mileage, grade and condition notes described here; it is not a guaranteed purchase price, and the car is not guaranteed to sell within this range, since final hammer prices depend on live bidding on the day. For the current live pricing, minimum bid figures and landed cost estimates for your country, please refer to the price panel on this page, as these figures are calculated live and change after publication. All bids must be submitted before 9PM UK time the evening before auction.
Vehicle Specifications
Manufacturer Porsche. Model 911, generation 964. Grade as listed 911 Carrera 4. Chassis code E-964, chassis number WP0ZZZ96ZKS400510. Year of first registration August 1989 (Heisei 1). Body style two door coupe. Engine type M64/01, engine number 62K00925, confirmed by the auction house as matching the vehicle. Engine capacity 3,600 cc, naturally aspirated flat six, petrol fuel. Transmission five speed manual. Drive layout 4WD, using Porsche's viscous coupled all wheel drive system introduced on the 964 Carrera 4. Steering left hand drive. Exterior colour code F5, described on the sales points as genuine Diamond Blue Metallic, though the inspector has separately queried whether the original colour may have been grey and whether the car has been repainted; this uncertainty is noted rather than resolved. Interior colour is not recorded on the auction sheet. Seating capacity four. Odometer reading 80,650 km, approximately 50,116 miles. Auction grade 3.5 overall, with an interior sub grade of C. Auction house USS Tokyo, lot number 79008, Japanese auction date 1st October 2026. Recycling deposit recorded at ¥14,550. Import category listed as dealer, model year for import purposes given as 1989.
Factory Features and Equipment
The auction sheet confirms air conditioning is fitted, noted on the equipment line as AC, although the inspector separately reports this system as currently faulty, so it should not be assumed to be working on arrival. Manual transmission and left hand drive configuration are confirmed. A five speed manual gearbox and Porsche's viscous coupled 4WD hardware are inherent to the Carrera 4 specification. The sales points confirm the engine number matches Porsche's records for this chassis, an important originality marker on any air cooled 911. No service booklet, warranty document or spare key information is recorded as present on the auction sheet; these items are not confirmed. The seller's notes flag that aftermarket parts are fitted to the car, though the specific parts are not itemised on the sheet, so buyers should treat this as a general disclosure rather than a detailed modifications list.
Japanese Auction Report Translation
The auction sheet has been translated and checked by Autoselecta staff, and every point recorded by the inspector is set out here without omission. Under sales points, the sheet confirms the engine type as M64/01 with engine number 62K00925, and states clearly that the engine number matches the vehicle's records, marked as confirmed OK. It highlights the colour code F5 as genuine Diamond Blue Metallic paint, notes that this is the car's first time being listed at auction, and confirms it was purchased directly from the previous owner as a user trade in rather than sourced through a dealer.
Under points to note, the sheet records that aftermarket parts are fitted to the car, without further detail on what these parts are.
The inspector's own report then lists a series of specific faults. There is a scratch and dent on the side house panel, referring to the rocker or sill area of the body. The air conditioning is reported as faulty. The cabin interior is described as dirty, scuffed and marked with a burn mark. The dashboard panel is reported as lifting and cracked, a known issue on many air cooled 911s of this vintage where the dash material can shrink and split with age and sun exposure. The bonnet damper is reported as faulty. The wheels show scratches, and there are various further scratches and dents noted generally across the car.
The registration and specification fields on the sheet confirm the vehicle as a 1989 Porsche 911 Carrera 4, chassis type E-964, coupe body, 3,600 cc engine, 4WD, manual transmission, left hand drive, with an odometer reading of 80,650 km at the time of inspection. The vehicle inspection expiry date field was left blank on the sheet and could not be confirmed, and the interior colour field was also left blank. Whether the exterior colour is genuinely Diamond Blue Metallic as the seller claims, or grey as separately queried by the inspector with a question mark, could not be resolved with certainty from the sheet alone; buyers should treat the exterior colour and any possibility of a respray as unconfirmed pending physical inspection or further photographs.
Damage Diagram and Body Condition
The damage diagram on the auction sheet marks a number of specific areas around the car. At the front, near the roof and windscreen edge, there is a handwritten notation that appears to combine a small scratch marking with a possible crack reference, though this particular note could not be read with full confidence and is flagged here as uncertain rather than guessed at. Around both the left and right A pillar and bonnet edge areas, W2 marks are recorded, indicating a repair mark or panel wave visible on inspection. A further W2 mark sits centrally on the bonnet, alongside a U1 notation indicating a small dent in the same area. The centre of the bonnet also carries a note for stone chips graded A, meaning light, typical stone chip wear rather than anything severe, and the roof is marked with a clear coat issue graded A, again a minor level notation.
Moving along the sides, W2 marks are recorded on both the left and right door areas, again indicating repair marks or panel waviness rather than fresh damage. At the rear, the left quarter panel carries both a U1 small dent and a W2 repair or wave mark, while the right quarter panel carries its own W2 notation. The engine lid and boot area at the rear centre is marked with a further clear coat issue graded A. Separately, near the rear bumper and tail light area, the sheet notes water ingress, which should be treated as a point of real caution and investigated for the source of any leak before or shortly after purchase.
Taken together, this diagram describes a car that has clearly lived an active life and has had some panel work carried out at various points, evidenced by the number of W2 wave and repair marks around the bonnet, doors and rear quarters, alongside minor dents, typical stone chip wear and a couple of clear coat notes. None of the individual marks are graded at the more serious W3, U2, U3 or S2 level, and there is no rust specifically flagged, but the combination of multiple repair area markings plus the reported water ingress at the rear means this should be regarded as a usable, honest enthusiast condition example rather than a pristine, unmolested collector grade car. Buyers should budget for a thorough inspection of the rear water ingress point and the panel repair areas after arrival.
Interior Condition
The interior sub grade is recorded as C, which on the standard Japanese auction grading scale indicates a cabin with noticeable wear, marking or condition issues rather than a clean, presentable interior. This aligns directly with the inspector's own written comments, which describe the cabin as dirty, scuffed and carrying a burn mark, and separately flag the dashboard panel as lifting and cracked, a well known issue on 964 generation 911s where the original dash material can degrade with age and UV exposure. The interior colour itself is not recorded on the auction sheet and should be treated as unconfirmed pending further images or physical inspection. Air conditioning is fitted as factory equipment but is reported faulty. No mention is made of navigation, sound system originality condition, seat upholstery specifics, headlining condition or floor mats, so these should also be treated as unconfirmed rather than assumed.
Japanese Auction Grades
Japanese auction houses grade cars on a standardised scale to give buyers an independent, third party condition assessment before bidding. A grade of 3.5, as given here, sits in the middle band of the scale, describing a car with clean overall mechanical presentation but with the number and combination of exterior marks, minor repairs and interior wear that keep it below the higher 4 and 4.5 grades reserved for cleaner, more original examples, while still being well above the lower grades reserved for cars needing significant restoration. An interior sub grade of C indicates a cabin with clear signs of wear, use or minor damage, consistent with the burn mark, general dirt and dashboard cracking noted by the inspector on this specific car. These grades are a widely used and generally reliable shorthand across the Japanese auction system, but they are not a substitute for reading the full inspector's written report and damage diagram, both of which are translated in full above.
Model History
The Porsche 964 generation, produced from 1989 to 1994, represented the most extensive redesign of the 911 since its introduction in 1963, while retaining the classic silhouette that owners and enthusiasts refused to let Porsche abandon. Porsche's own engineers described the 964 as roughly 85 percent new compared with the outgoing G series Carrera, bringing coil spring suspension in place of torsion bars, power assisted steering, standard ABS, and a larger 3.6 litre flat six engine producing around 250 PS. The Carrera 4 was launched first, in late 1988 for the 1989 model year, ahead of the rear wheel drive Carrera 2, making this early example one of the very first 964 specifications to reach customers. The 4WD system used a viscous coupling to distribute torque between the front and rear axles, technology directly derived from development work on the Porsche 959, and it gave the Carrera 4 genuinely useful all weather traction while keeping the fundamental rear engined, rear biased character that defines the 911 driving experience. The 964 generation also went on to spawn the later Carrera RS, Turbo and America Roadster variants, cementing its place as a foundational chapter in modern 911 history.
Why This Model Has Become Collectible
The 964 Carrera 4 occupies a genuinely important place in Porsche history as the car that modernised the 911 platform while keeping its analogue driving character intact, and this dual identity, part classic, part modern, is exactly why demand for good examples has grown steadily. It was the first series production 911 with all wheel drive, the first with power steering, and the first with ABS as standard, technical milestones that matter to serious Porsche collectors and historians. Values across the 964 range have firmed up considerably over the past decade as buyers increasingly recognise it as the last air cooled 911 generation before the shift to fully electronic engine management and eventually water cooling in the 996. Manual gearboxes, like the one fitted to this car, are increasingly sought after as automatic and Tiptronic examples become the more common survivors in some markets. Genuinely usable, driver focused Carrera 4 coupes with real mileage and honest history, rather than garage queens, appeal strongly to enthusiasts who want to actually drive their 911 rather than simply store it, and left hand drive examples sourced from Japan often present better underlying mechanical condition than cars that have spent their lives on salted European roads, even where cosmetic marks like those noted on this car's auction sheet need addressing. As with any air cooled 911, good examples are becoming harder to source in Japan as the domestic market there increasingly recognises their significance too, adding further pressure on supply for export buyers.
What To Look For When Buying This Model
Anyone buying a 964 Carrera 4 should pay close attention to a handful of well known trouble spots. Dual mass flywheel and clutch wear is common given the torque and driving style these cars are typically used for, and replacement is a significant job on the 964's engine layout. Oil leaks around the various case seals and the rear main seal area are typical of air cooled Porsche engines of this age and should be checked for during any pre purchase inspection. The four wheel drive system's viscous coupling and related components should be checked for correct operation, since replacement parts can be costly and increasingly hard to source. Corrosion at the sills, wheel arches, floor pans and rear quarter panels is a known 964 weak point, directly relevant here given the sill scratch and dent noted on this specific car's inspection, along with the multiple W2 repair marks recorded around the bonnet, doors and rear quarters. Dashboard cracking, as flagged on this car, is extremely common across 964 interiors and, while not a mechanical fault, is a cosmetic item many owners eventually address. Air conditioning faults, again present on this specific example, are a frequent 964 issue and should be budgeted for. Buyers should also treat the exterior colour and repaint question raised by the inspector on this car as an open item worth investigating further, since original paint versus a respray materially affects both value and originality for collectors.
Why Import This Car From Japan
Japan remains one of the world's best sources for well documented, mechanically sound performance and classic cars, thanks to a domestic auction system that inspects every vehicle independently before sale and produces a detailed written condition report and damage diagram, exactly as reproduced in full above for this car. Japanese owners have historically kept meticulous maintenance habits, and even where a specific car shows cosmetic wear, as this one does, the underlying auction grading and mechanical transparency give export buyers a level of pre purchase information that is very difficult to obtain from private sales or dealer stock in most other countries. Importing directly from Japan also opens up specification and colour combinations, like this genuine early production Carrera 4 in its recorded Diamond Blue Metallic colour code F5, that are rare or simply unavailable in many overseas markets.
USA Import Information
This 1989 Porsche 911 Carrera 4 is now old enough to qualify under the United States' 25 year import rule, making it fully eligible for legal road registration in the USA. Autoselecta can arrange shipment of this car from Japan directly to the United States. Buyers based in the USA are encouraged to contact Autoselecta with their city or ZIP code before bidding, so that a full delivered quotation can be prepared in advance. Autoselecta can calculate the expected purchase cost, Japan side costs, ocean shipping, customs related charges and any state specific delivery or registration requirements relevant to your location, so you know exactly what to expect before committing to a bid.
Ultimate Guide For Japanese Imports
Buying a car at Japanese auction from overseas involves several distinct stages: registering your interest and target vehicle, having the auction sheet and any available photographs properly translated and explained, agreeing a maximum bid amount before the auction closes, having that bid placed by an experienced agent on your behalf, confirming the result once the auction concludes, arranging export preparation and shipping from Japan, and finally managing import, customs clearance and registration in your home country. Because auction sheets are written entirely in Japanese shorthand and industry codes, a proper independent translation, like the full one provided in this report, is essential to understanding exactly what you are bidding on before the auction even opens.
Why Import Through Autoselecta
Autoselecta gives buyers worldwide direct access to Japan's major auction houses, including USS Tokyo where this car is listed, along with full auction sheet translation and transparency so nothing is hidden or glossed over in the condition report. The team sources vehicles matching a buyer's specific requirements, provides bidding assistance and strategy on cars like this one, and then manages the full export process once a car is won, including all necessary paperwork, shipping arrangements, and vehicle tracking where available through the shipping line. On arrival in the buyer's own country, Autoselecta supports the import process, including guidance specific to USA bound vehicles as detailed above, and maintains clear communication with the buyer at every stage from initial bid through to final delivery.
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Autoselecta lists a constantly changing selection of vehicles fresh from Japanese auction houses each week, giving buyers the chance to compare current listings against cars like this Porsche 911 Carrera 4 964 before deciding where to place a bid.
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Buyers can search live Japanese auction listings directly through Autoselecta's platform, filtering by manufacturer, model, generation, grade and mileage to find comparable cars to this one currently available across Japan's auction network.
Auction Caution
Auction vehicles such as this 1989 Porsche 911 Carrera 4 are inspected independently before sale, but they remain used cars that have covered real mileage and lived real lives, in this case 80,650 km, approximately 50,116 miles. The auction sheet and damage diagram translated in full above are an independent condition guide produced by the auction house's own inspectors, not a mechanical warranty, and should be read carefully alongside the photographs provided. Older performance cars of this type, particularly air cooled Porsches with complex four wheel drive systems, should be expected to need servicing, maintenance or some degree of refurbishment after purchase regardless of their auction grade. On this specific car, buyers should note again the inspector's recorded faults: faulty air conditioning, a faulty bonnet damper, a dirty, scuffed and burn marked cabin, a lifting and cracked dashboard panel, wheel scratches, scratches and dents around the side sill and other panels, multiple W2 repair or wave marks around the bonnet, doors and rear quarters, minor dents, light stone chip wear, clear coat issues, and a note of water ingress at the rear near the bumper and tail light. Aftermarket parts are also confirmed as fitted, and the exterior colour and any possible respray history could not be confirmed with certainty from the auction sheet alone. All of this should be factored into any pre purchase planning and budget.
