Porsche 911 (930) 3.0 Turbo

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In the early 1980s, no red-blooded schoolboy's bedroom was complete without at least two posters on the wall – one of a rather shapely tennis player scratching her pert behind, the other of a 160mph Porsche 911 Turbo. Both provided sufficient fantasy material to keep a boy pleasantly amused for hours...

Launched in 1975 and internally known as the 930, the 911 Turbo was a beast of a car that took the motoring world by storm. Not only did it have just about the biggest spoiler ever seen on a production car, but it had the kind of explosive power normally only found in the barrel of a gun. Powered by a strengthened version of the 3-litre engine found in the RS, it used a de-tuned version of the turbo technology originally developed for the terrifying 917 CAN-AM race car that, in qualifying tune, developed a massive 1,580bhp!

For road use 260bhp was deemed quite sufficient and all manner of mods were employed to keep all this power under control. Apart from the whale-tail spoiler there were huge rear tyres, stiffer suspension, larger brakes and a bullet-proof 4-speed gearbox. With shattering in-gear acceleration (0 - 60 in 5.2 secs) and brutally abrupt power delivery, the car was still a handful to master and was strictly for brave and skilful pilots only.

Just 2,873 3.0 Turbos were produced between 1975 and 1978, the vast majority in left-hand drive, before it was replaced by a 3.3-litre version which remained in production until 1993. One of the most iconic sportscars of all time, the 930 is increasingly sought after today.

As a letter from Porsche Cars GB in the history file confirms, this particular 930 was manufactured in 1975 and was supplied to its first owner through Motortune Ltd of Chelsea in May 1975. Black with a Green Plaid interior, accessories included a sunroof, door mirror, Recaro seats, light alloy wheels, recoil bumpers and a black roof lining.

As production of the 930 only began in February 1975 and the first cars were not officially available in the UK until September of that year, chassis 91 must have been one of the very first right-hand drive examples to come to this country, if not the first – a thought which also occurred to Josh Sadler at Autofarm when he was asked to restore the car in 1993 (of which more later on).

Because the original owner was away on business when the car arrived, he delayed registering it until February 1976 when it was assigned the number MVO 653P. From that moment on the car was in regular use, old MOTs showing that it had clocked up 77,201 miles by 1985 (by which point it was registered WAM 911), a total which has now risen to just under 139,800 miles with many old MOTs and bills to warrant this figure.

By 1986 the car had come into the possession of a Tewkesbury gentleman who was to keep it for the next 28 years, only selling it to the current vendor very recently. When acquired by the previous owner in July 1986, it had some 110,000 miles on the clock and was used regularly until the autumn of 1993 by which time it had covered 135,844 miles and was clearly looking a little tired. It was at this point that the car was entrusted to Josh Sadler and his team at Autofarm, Oxon, for what turned out to be more a less a complete nut-and-bolt rebuild, judging by the bills on file.

At the time of cataloguing we had not had time to go through the history file in depth but a large number of bills charts the work carried out, the huge number of parts replaced and the money spent in the minutest possible detail. It would take hours to tot this lot up but in a fairly cursory inspection we counted bills from Autofarm for in excess of £20,000 during this period, including a full glass-and-interior-out body restoration and a quality repaint.

It was during the restoration that Josh Sadler wrote to Porsche GB to try to find out just how early a RHD car it was, but unfortunately they were “unable to confirm where the vehicle would lie within the first batch of Turbos imported into the UK, as this information is not readily available to us.” They were, however, able to supply the original specification and registration details for the car, these remaining in the history file today. Now that we are into the age of the internet, further research into this area may yet bear fruit for the next owner.

In conversation with Josh Sadler while preparing this catalogue description, he intimated that much other money was also spent on the car which may not have been recorded in the history file and that this may well have included an engine rebuild by 911 guru, Bob Watson, although we could not locate any bills to substantiate this.

The car was finally returned to the road in September 1995 and since then has only clocked up some 4,000 miles, the odometer reading just under 139,800 miles when the car was submitted for MOT in June 2014 which it passed with no advisories recorded.

Supplied with a large file of bills back to 1986 and virtually all old MOTs back to 1985, this exceptionally early, matching numbers 911 Turbo still radiates road presence and is just the kind of toy that any true petrolhead would dearly love to have in their garage.

Once somewhat unloved due to its fearsome reputation, the 930 Turbo is now enjoying a resurgence in popularity, as with many early Porsches, and values are rising strongly (a mint low-miler making £92,000 at auction earlier this year). As fast as any Ferrari and bullet-proof by comparison, we can’t help feeling that this iconic supercar offers remarkable value at the guide price suggested and is probably another one to buy now while you can still afford to!