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1985 Porsche 911 Is Roy Orbison’s European-Speck of Cool in America

Roy Orbison is the man we should thank for song like “Oh, Pretty Woman” or “Only the Lonely,” provided you're into this kind of music, of course. The late American musician is also the man to thank for bringing this 1985-model year Euro-spec Porsche 911 in the U.S.
1985 Porsche 911 Carrera Cabrio owned by Roy Orbison 13 photos
Photo: Bring a Trailer
1985 Porsche 911 Carrera Cabrio Roy Orbison1985 Porsche 911 Carrera Cabrio Roy Orbison1985 Porsche 911 Carrera Cabrio Roy Orbison1985 Porsche 911 Carrera Cabrio Roy Orbison1985 Porsche 911 Carrera Cabrio Roy Orbison1985 Porsche 911 Carrera Cabrio Roy Orbison1985 Porsche 911 Carrera Cabrio Roy Orbison1985 Porsche 911 Carrera Cabrio Roy Orbison1985 Porsche 911 Carrera Cabrio Roy Orbison1985 Porsche 911 Carrera Cabrio Roy Orbison1985 Porsche 911 Carrera Cabrio Roy Orbison1985 Porsche 911 Carrera Cabrio Roy Orbison
Like most other people in his line of work, Orbison was a fan of the automobile. He ordered this 911 Carrera Cabrio and had it imported with quite the number of upgrades: a limited-slip differential, electronically-adjustable sport seats, central locking, cruise control, air conditioning, and an alarm system.

Visually, it comes in black over Cancan Red leather, but also sports an option package called M491. That was introduced by the German carmaker in 1984 and gifted any of the cars using it with things like wider front and rear fenders, and deleted badge at the rear.

The car still sports the Euro-spec engine, which in this case is a 3.2-liter flat-six linked with a five-speed manual transmission. Back when it was new, the powerplant was rated at 231 horsepower with 210 lb-ft of torque.

It’s unclear for how long Orbison held on to it (he died three years after the car was made, in 1988), but what is known is that at one point the car entered a private collection, and then another, before being purchased by the current owner in 2012. They are selling it, of course, as part of an online auction, and the highest bid at the time of reporting is $52,500 (a glitch on the auction website makes it impossible to know how much time is left to bid on it).

The new owner of the 911 is going to get the car complete with service records, a Porsche Certificate of Authenticity, a clean Carfax report, and a clean Texas title in the seller’s name. It also goes with the history of 45,000 miles (72,000 km) on it, all of them traveled in the U.S.
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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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