[davemon]

I think, and certainly hope, that we're now seeing the floor for strong running and mechanically sound 986 Boxsters. They are out of production and replaced by a superior successor, the 987 (at least on paper). The fleet is aging, but not so aged that these are starting to become scarce, so I really think this is the absolute floor for these cars. Any car produced that has a Porsche badge on it will be considering collectible or at least "a nice car" as long as combustion engines are still on the road and not perceived as antiquated junk (think how many horse buggy shows are there?). Anyone picking up a nice, clean, mechanically sound 986 for 10k-14k or less only takes on the risk that they will have to replace the motor. With a brand new motor, you should be able to get most of that money back either with increased car lifespan or by reselling. The prices on the 986s can't go down any more because there is just simply too much fun to be had and too much in the box to watch the price go down any more. Collectible? Probably not in the sense of the other big names, but if you catch one in the sweet spot of the depreciation curve, you have very decent odds of breaking even in the short-term and possibly coming out ahead in the long term. Which is so much more than you can say about 95% of the other cars on the road.

For me, I'll drive and fix it until I get bored. If/when that happens if it's not worth selling, I'll cover it and remember the good times.