Porsche Torque
The Beverly Hills Car Club CEO celebrates 50 years of impact bumpers with a look back at the era’s premier model: the 911 Turbo
Always with a frisson of danger, the endlessly thrilling turbocharged Porsche 930 – the fastest production model Porsche had produced to date – was launched at the Paris Motor Show in 1974. These cars were built for raw speed and it was the same with their manufacture: by 1975 the Porsche 930 Turbo was being made and available to buy. Much later, celebrity owners would include Soundgarden’s lead vocalist, the late Chris Cornell.
Economically, 1974 had been a crunch time. October 1973’s international oil crisis instigated by the OPEC nations, led by Saudi Arabia – a consequence of the Yom Kippur war between Israel and the Arab states – meant that by January of 1974 the black gold had almost quadrupled in price, from $2.90 a barrel to $11.65. Interest rates soared. Sound familiar? And yet some of the most expensive and hyper-exotic cars were launched to grand effect in 1974.
Development on what would become the Porsche 930 had begun in 1972. This was a turbocharged version of the 911 with high levels of luxury and comfort, and capable of generating over 230bhp. This was a consequence of the accession to the chairmanship of Porsche in 1972 of Dr Ernst Fuhrmann. It was Ernst who had overseen the adaptation of the turbo technology employed in this ultimate 911, which made use of a single KKK turbocharger.
And so in Paris in October 1974, amid this financial turmoil, a car emerged from Porsche’s Stuttgart stable with an astonishing performance that had been codenamed the 930: the Porsche 911 Turbo. With a top speed of 155mph and a 0-60mph time of 5.2 seconds, the 930 Turbo Coupe was as much a supercar as the Lamborghini Countach, launched that same year.
Initially, Ernst had intended a production run that was limited to 500 cars. Yet such was the demand at that Paris event, that number had already been surpassed.
By 1978 the engine had been shifted 30mm further back to improve handling and weight distribution. And in 1979 Porsche built 806 930 Coupes for the US market – it had been 1976 before they first went on sale in America. However, changing emissions regulations in Japan and the US meant that Porsche had to withdraw the 930 from those markets in 1980.
And we have one right now at Beverly Hills Car Club: an amazing, stunning colour combination 1979 Porsche 930 Turbo Coupe with matching numbers and 73,614 miles on the odometer. Available in Petrol blue metallic with a black interior, this 930 Turbo comes with a four-speed manual transmission, flat six 3.3-litre engine, air conditioning, sports seats, power windows, sunroof, four-wheel disc brakes, Fuchs wheels and spare tyre. Also included are service documents and receipts copies totalling over $6,000. This is an extremely sought-after air-cooled Porsche Turbo and is mechanically sound.
An abiding feature of the 930 Turbo was its renowned whaletail. This was intended to stabilise the car at the very high speeds its turbocharged engine was capable of achieving. Its gaping grille sucked more air to that very same engine, its only source of coolant. In harmony with the whale tail went its flared fenders.
Rather than being a pedantic add-on, the whale tail only enhanced the beauty of one of the best classic cars that money can buy. The 911 Turbo is gorgeously of its time, and yet so modern it could have been built today.