2012 Porsche Cayman “R”-Platinum Silver on Carrera Red, 6-speed, carbon buckets, 1-owner, 1 of 1 build, silly nice, 27k miles
Past Inventory
All Porsche’s are great BUT some will go down in history as the true “GREATS”… the 2012 Cayman R is one such car….
The challenging thing about defining what would land a particular car on the vaunted GREATS list is that it can’t be distilled by simply looking at a spec sheet or performance measures. If it were that easy manufacturers could consistently crank out new GREATS with each succeeding generation, but we know that simply isn’t the case. As car fanatics we instinctively “feel” when a car is simply more than the sum of its parts. These cars inextricably create an emotional link between driver and machine that can’t be measured objectively, but can be understood spiritually. Have you owned a litany of cars with impressive spec sheets that excited you initially but your passion waned as you felt something was missing? The Cayman R is that perfect elixir….
Porsche sold the 987.2 Cayman R for just one model year, 2012, and it shared the vast majority of its DNA with another true GREAT, the 987.2 Boxster Spyder. One could find spiritual driving Nirvana in either model, the biggest deciding factor comes down to elemental soft top or rigid fixed roof. The Spyder is rare with just 891 sold here in North America, but the R is extraordinarily rare with just 624 here. Now the desired specification has the 6-speed manual gearbox (343 total) and the Carbon bucket seats (40% of production), so maybe ~170 or so of those extant. Now this particular car ups the ante even more as it was spec’d with my holy grail…. Carrera Red Full Leather! In fact there were just SIX cars built with: Carrera Red Leather, 6-speed and buckets… This is also the ONLY one ever built with AC delete with an interior of any color other than Black (10 AC delete manual cars of any configuration) If you want to geek out on the various builds: https://vinanalytics.com/collections/caymanr/
Ok, enough geeking out rarity, what is this cars story?
This car was special ordered new by a longtime client of mine at Porsche of Bellevue. He is a retired Composites Engineer from Boeing, a longtime Porsche owner and fanatical about weight and exotic materials. The Cayman R SPOKE to him, so as soon as he saw the initial press release he headed down to Porsche and placed his order. For him it was all about PURITY of purpose, so with that in mind, here is how he ordered the car:
- Platinum Silver Metallic- $710
- Carrera Red Leather Interior- $5,165 (the full leather interior actually weighs slightly less than the partial!)
- Carbon Bucket seats were standard on the R (sadly most people “deleted” them for regular sport seats)
- He did take the free options of: CDR30 radio and cupholders
- Air Conditioning Delete
Original MSRP $73,125
The car arrived on July 21st, 2011 and has been in his care for the past 12 years. As is typical for engineers he is VERY particular. I have flawless documentation from the original order, window sticker, every service record, even a receipt for every gallon of gas…. Suffice it to say, it has been well looked after!
Just 8 miles ago the car received a full annual service, 4 new Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires and all new tire pressure monitor sensors (TPMS). The car has been exclusively maintained at Cantrell Motorsports for the past 10 years. The car is 100% stock with the only exception being a lightweight Anti-Gravity battery ($830!!), if you recall he is obsessed with weight, weighing just 15 lbs, 20-30lbs lighter than a standard H6 battery!
Suffice it to say this car is spectacular in all ways: driving, aesthetics, collectibility, performance, wow factor and quality. It has never been damaged or modified and has a clean DME report. It is 100% original including paint (paint meter verified) and is nearly without excuse of any kind. The body, paint and interior are stunning. Mechanically, there isn’t much to report other than to say it is 100% ready to go.
The car comes complete with all the items you would want
- Original Window Sticker
- Original purchase documentation
- All original books and manuals
- 2 original keys
- Original Cayman R literature
- Complete Service history
This WILL be one of the cars you will be telling your friends in the future you SHOULD have bought, don’t be the person telling that story in the future… instead be the person who is drinking the elixir of driving nirvana!