Good Find Friday features interesting vehicles we’ve found for sale while conducting market analysis or appraisal research. They are not for sale by Wolf and Mare and we have no business relationship with the sellers. We just think they’re worth learning about and sharing with our readers!

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This week’s Good Find Friday is a little different. I’m still featuring a great find, but today’s post will also examine a Bring a Trailer listing that got your author, a true European police car nut, pretty riled up. So brew a fresh cup, sit back, and enjoy this little tale of two police Porsches.

I’ve previously covered cars of the Dutch “Rijkspolitie” in a previous Good Find Friday, so I won’t repeat that info here. If you’re unfamiliar with the Dutch National Police or their use of some very cool cars, take a look at my profile of a 964-generation 911 Rijkspolitie car from back in March.

What I do want to discuss is a “Rijkspolitie” tribute car that was recently listed for sale on the online auction platform Bring a Trailer (BAT). According to the listing, the owner of a 1980 Porsche 911SC Targa commissioned Avant-Garde Collection (911r on BAT) to conduct a complete overhaul and transformation of the car into a replica of “Alex 82,” a vehicle used in service with the national police force in the Netherlands. It’s a bold project and one that got me really excited — at first.

“Alex 82” is actually a call sign for a number of Porsche cars that served with the Rijkspolitie from around 1973 through the 1990s based on information from the informative website rijkspolitie.nl. The “82” number has been affixed to at least 3 generations of Porsche, from the F-body long-hood cars, to the short-hood G-body 911 and finally ending with the 964-generation. All three variants were Targa-roofed models.

My love for Dutch police cars is well-known, so I was thrilled to see this car at auction as I’ve often considered building a tribute Rijkspolitie Porsche myself. Avant-Garde promoted the car as a no-expense-spared effort to recreate a Rijkspolitie Porsche using original and authentic police parts and the car presents authentically at a glance. However, my excitement was soon dampened by some unfortunate decisions on the part of the build team.

While the seller 911r claimed that significant effort was made to source authentic components, I immediately noticed that many parts used on this car were not authentic to the real Dutch police cars. I posted a comment calling out just two errors I’d found: the beacon light and bracket. I had hoped that a small critque would open the door for 911r to provide details on what was a genuine article (as claimed) and what was a reproduction or an inaccurate part. While acknowledging the bracket was custom, 911r doubled-down on their claims of extensive research and use of authentic Dutch police equipment. Thanks to a post-auction expert, we have a complete list of the inaccurate police components installed on this tribute. Take a look at the comments section for details.

In addition to the incorrect police bits, the repaint from its original yellow to white was very poorly done, in my opinion. While many of the car’s components were removed for repainting, others like the hood and trunk latches, hinges, and wiring were left attached to the car. Some shoddy masking around these elements and others exposed the yellow paint underneath and it wasn’t a good look. There appears to be some very nice mechanical work done on the car, which almost makes it hurt more that these decisions were made.

A genuine Dutch police Porsche typically trades for around double the price of a standard Porsche 911 equivalent, so the stated investment of $184,000 to build this car is pretty outrageous given you can find a genuine ex-police car for that price on the open market if you’re a little patient. In fact, a real Dutch police Porsche 911 is the subject of today’s Good Find Friday.

Update: The car failed to sell at a high bid of $101,000 and is now listed on Avant-Garde’s website for $175,000.

Today’s Good Find Friday car is this 1987 Porsche 911 3.2 Carrera Targa “Rijkspolitie” offered for sale by AutoLeitner in the Netherlands at an asking price of €149,500.

According to the listing information, this car served as Alex #1282 and has a documented history with the Dutch National Police “Rijkspolitie.” The rijkspolitie.nl site lists this version of Alex 82 as having been delivered to the police force in January of 1988, which is consistent with the model year of the car.

Exterior features that correspond to documentary photos of Alex 82 include a rear windscreen wiper, Bosch RKLE series warning beacon with the correct cast metal-style bracket mounted on the non-vent Targa bar, Teledial alloy wheels, rear auxiliary lighting, rear matrix-bulb stop light, forward-mounted passenger-side mirror and Bosch spoiler-mounted sirens.

The rear speaker is about the right shape and size, but doesn’t match the original’s color. Additionally, the front valance sports two recessed fog lights, but the reference photos of the car do not show fog lights fitted on this car. The previous Alex 82, also an accordion-bumper 911, does have fog lights. The front valance appears otherwise correct for a Dutch police car, however.

Moving to the interior, in contrast to many of these cars that use Porsche-style foglight buttons with custom inserts for the alarm, light, etc., this car sports a series of red and blue dash-mounted pushbuttons. Fortunately, one of the reference photos shows this style of switch panel was fitted to Alex 82 and you can see it just above the policeman’s arm. The Teletron radio looks like it could be correct for the period, but I’m no expert on the radios fitted to these cars. There is a modern Blaupunkt stereo awkwardly mounted underneath, which may suggest both are replacement items.

There is the typical storage box mounted in the rear compartment, but the one in this example is a bit sloppy in its installation and accoutrements from what I’ve seen on other genuine cars.

Even without verifying its authenticity, I’d much rather have this Dutch police Porsche than the Bring a Trailer tribute. At the current exchange rate, this car’s €149,500 price equates to about $175,300, or LESS than the quoted $184,000 cost to build the replica that failed to sell on BAT.

The Bring a Trailer car is not the only replica to hit the market labeled with the call sign “Alex 82.” There’s yet another Porsche 911 police car with this call sign currently for sale in the Netherlands and while it’s a 1980 model just like the tribute that failed to sell on Bring a Trailer, this Porsche 911 is a far superior replica. The challenge, however, is its asking price: it’s nearly the same as the (claimed) genuine Alex 82 profiled today.

In summary, we have had three “Alex 82” Rijkspolitie cars on the market in the last couple of weeks, with two of them being replicas and only one appearing to be a genuine Alex 82 police car. One of those replicas is very good and one of them is very sub-par. If you fancy the look and experience of owning a Dutch police Porsche, it’s probably best to be patient and find a genuine car for sale that includes supporting documentation. This is especially true given the cost of a donor car and parts.

Another suggestion would be to engage an expert — either in Porsches or Dutch police cars — to perform a detailed inspection before buying. The bidders in the Bring a Trailer auction dodged a bullet, in my opinion, by not meeting the reserve price. Only after the auction ended did a commenter familiar with Dutch emergency vehicles call out the car for its many failings.

Which brings me to this point: A tangible benefit of the Bring a Trailer comments section is that it can help educate buyers as to the quality of the car on offer. However, there are quite a few sycophantic cheerleaders of the prominent dealers on the platform, and fear of being labeled as a nitpicker or saboteur likely prevents some knowledgeable folks — like those who spoke up after the BAT auction ended — from speaking their mind.

In retrospect, I regret that I didn’t more strenuously question the Bring a Trailer police car’s seller on their representation of the car. 911r has a positive reputation on the platform, which is what makes their lack of transparency in this instance so disappointing. It’s possible that many of the decisions made during this build were influenced or directed by their client, but if the owner were truly happy with the result would he be selling the car?

This may all seem a bit trivial, but when you’re talking about expensive automobiles, details matter! Have a great weekend, everyone.

Wolf and Mare provides car finding, appraisal and auction services for sellers and buyers of collector European cars. We also provide importation services. Give us a call or drop us a line!