Project 965: is it the 964 Turbo?

Let’s clear this one up once and for all.

The fact generally accepted is that the Porsche 965 was a stillborn concept created by Porsche engineers to examine the concept of replacing the 911 Turbo with a new premium model. It was to be a top-of-the-range car, faster than the 930 but cheaper and below the ultimate 959.

It’s at this point that if you Google ‘Porsche 965’ that everything becomes complicated. Remarkably, many people think that the

964 Turbo is actually a 965. Specialist car dealers, who really ought to have a firmer grasp of the facts, advertise them, and on any Porsche forum there is a history of heated debate on the subject.

This experimental 911/965 that the factory engineers toyed with was fitted with a V8 supplied by Audi, and as such, was a water-cooled engine. As a result, the experimental vehicle had to be heavily disguised when it was tested on public roads, hence the matte dark-grey paint finish on the road-going experimental version. Many different engines were tested in this experimental vehicle, but the one that resides in the car today is the Audi V8 unit.

The 965 project was canned shortly after CEO Peter Schutz’s departure, with Porsche realising they didn’t have the financial capabilities to do both the 911 Turbo and 965. Ulrich Bez decided the company couldn’t do without the 911 Turbo, a keen profit maker for the company. Thus the 964 Turbo made it to production, while the 965 project was consigned to the history books. Though most mules were crushed at the time, a lone prototype stills resides at the Porsche Museum today.