One of my wife's clients has her deceased father's near-perfect silver metallic 1973 Porsche 911S Targa up for sale. The original list price was $10,860 or about $62,600 in 2016 dollars. Hagerty's valuation tools have a 1973 Porsche 911S Targa at 95,000 (#4/Fair), $121,000 (#3/Good), $169,000 (#2/Excellent), and $230,000 (#1/Concours).

A quick look at the car in question suggests that it is a #2/#2+. It is a highly original one owner car with 35,700 miles and has always been garage kept. Aftermarket replica wheels have been installed so that the originals don't get damaged and it comes with the original tool kit.

Pricing was different in the 1970s—in the United States, you could get into a 911 if you get $7,690 together for the 911T Coupe with 135 bhp 2.3 liter (though everybody seems to call it a 2.4 it is really closer to 2.3 at 2341 cc) flat 6. The 911T Targa cost an additional $800. Moving up to the 911E Targa (same size engine but higher compression yields 165 bhp) was an extra $1,000 at $9,760. The even higher compression (8.5:1) 190 bhp 911S Targa was another $1,100 and the most powerful Porsche you could buy in the United States for 1973—the Turbo would not make it to the US until 1976.

By today's standards the 911S was stunningly light: 2,250 pounds (a 2016 Mazda Miata weighs about 75 pounds more despite being more than a foot shorter). This meant that 0-60 mph came in about 7.0 seconds.

Base price of the 350 bhp 2016 Porsche 911 Targa 4 is $102,930—the 400 bhp 911 Targa 4S is $117,530. Weight is (of course) way up at 3,395 pounds for the 4 and 3,428 pounds for the 4S. All that power means that 0-60 for the Targa 4 comes in about 4.6 seconds while it is about 4.2 seconds for the 4S.

A quick Corvette comparison: a 1973 Corvette Stingray coupe with the 250 bhp L82 performance small block was $5,861, or about $33,800 in today’s dollars. The Stingray coupe weighed almost exactly 1,000 pounds more than the 911, so acceleration was about the same as 911S at 7.2 seconds for 0-60 mph. A 2016 Corvette Stingray starts at $55,400 and at 3,298 pounds is actually lighter than the 2016 911 Targa 4 or Targa 4S.