I like a certain degree of completeness so why not go ahead and bookend things? This Black 1977 Porsche 930 Turbo Carrera resides at the other end of the 930 spectrum from the 1989 930 I featured on Monday. It isn’t from the first year of 930 production so this isn’t the perfect comparison, but since it is from one of the first two years when the 930 utilized a 3.0 liter turbocharged engine without an intercooler it still provides a glimpse into the model’s early days.
Looking at them both you could easily mistake one for the other. Their dimensions are the same even if the ’89 has gained a couple hundred pounds so you won’t notice much there. The most obvious difference is the rear spoiler. Porsche modified the 930’s spoiler in ’78 so as to accommodate the new intercooler that would feed air into the larger 3.3 liter engine. It has much more pronounced wings, which has garnered it the name tea tray compared with the whale tail of the 3.0 liter models. The fog lights too are different as they became integrated into the front bumper. We notice the same difference when comparing the 911SC and 3.2 Carrera.
While the outside is quite similar, the differences in the interior are much more apparent and show the evolutionary changes of the 911 in general over this time. We find a similar evolutionary development under the skin. Naturally power increased and with it came larger 4-piston ventilated disc brakes. The 930 now could stop as well as it could go. And, of course, in 1989 Porsche fitted the 930 with the G50 5-speed transmission, the biggest change these cars had seen since their displacement increase in 1978.
CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1977 Porsche 930 Turbo Carrera on eBay
Year: 1977
Model: 911 Turbo
VIN: 9307800235
Engine: 3.0 liter turbocharged flat-6
Transmission: 4-speed manual
Mileage: 57,000 mi
Price: $135,000
As a company, Porsche has always been on a quest to make their cars go faster, both on the track and on the road. This quest for speed is exactly what led them to begin experimenting with turbocharging technology in the late 60’s. In order to meet FIA homologation rulings, Porsche put the 911 Turbo into production and introduced the vehicle at the Paris Auto Show in October of 1974. Taking the turbo technology from their 917/930 cars and mating
it to 3.0 liter flat-6 from the Carrera RS was a recipe for success and soon had consumers hooked. Excitement for the car was great enough that Porsche decided to keep the car in production even after the homologation requirements had been met, leading to the awesome lineage of forced induction 911s that still remains to this day.The car on offer here, a 1977 Porsche Turbo Carrera, chassis number and engine number 6870231, is a fantastic example, finished in original colors and featuring a well preserved original interior. Currently, the odometer shows just 57,762 miles. According to the limited copies of documents we have with the car, it appears to have been delivered new to Chick Iverson Porsche of Newport Beach, California. The car spent a good portion of its life in California, ending up in Palm Springs until 1985 when it moved to Wyoming. The car then ended up in South Dakota, at which point we have copies of receipts for close to $50,000 of receipts for a mechanical restoration done in 2016. The restoration was very thorough and covered a complete engine rebuild, transmission rebuild, front and rear suspension rebuild and more. When we acquired the car in July of 2018 it still wore what we believed to be original paint but it was unfortunately failing and we considered it to far gone to be preserved. We had the car professionally, glass out, repainted in its original color but kept the well preserved original interior intact. Between the mechanical restoration and the repaint in original colors, there is not too much else this car currently needs and it would make an ideal car to drive and enjoy or with a few minor fixes would be an excellent candidate for showing.
EXTERIOR
Body And Paint
The car was the recipient of a professional glass out repaint in its original color and as such remains in excellent condition. The fresh black paint is smooth and consistent throughout with nice rich color and good reflective quality. The body is likewise straight and tight with good consistent body and panel gaps all around.Glass And Trim
All the glass remains in good condition, with Sekurit branding on all windows except the windscreen which is branded, Pilkington. In an error made during the repaint the anodized trim piece on the top of both the passenger and driver side doors was painted black, a fairly easy correction, but an error worth nothing. The rest of the anodized trim, as well as all rubber pieces, remains in good condition. The headlights are nice clear, however, the finish on the inside of the buckets is a bit rough from road debris.Wheels
The black painted Fuch wheels are in excellent shape with bright and smooth metal surrounds, good consistent black paint and nice clean center caps.Notable Flaws
The trim piece that tops the doors is painted black instead of being anodized.INTERIOR
Seats And Surfaces
The interior of the car remains in well preserved original condition. The deep-bolstered seats retain good color and shape with minimal creasing. The drivers side bolster does exhibit some wear and separation at the seem. The carpets retain good color and show just a bit of characteristic wear in high traffic area. The headliner remains nice and tight but does exhibit some staining around the outer edges. Currently there are newer cocoa style mats covering the clean metal floors in the front section of the car. The rear parcel shelf shows some separation around the edges of the speaker areas. The top of the dash is in fair condition but displays a bit of waviness and some minor pulling near the vents on the leading edge. There is also some pulling evident on the dash front above the centrally located air vents. The surface on the sun visors is beginning to sag a bit but they are in overall good condition. The steering wheel has a good original look to it, with a bit of patina but nice tight stitching and no crack or separation. The ignition displays typical key scratching on the plastic bezel.Functionality And Accessories
The gauges are in excellent condition with bright color fun hands and nice white lettering. They a clear and easily legible and appear to display their requisite functions appropriately. Both power windows move up and down with ease and the sunroof slides open without issue. All switchgear and knobs are in good condition and retain good graphics and bright colors. They appear to all perform as intended. The proper Blaupunkt radio is in place and in fantastic order. The gear selector moves early through its range of motion and the emergency brake holds the car in place without issue.Notable Flaws
The interior is in nice original condition but because of this does display some imperfections. The rear parcel shelf displays some cracking around the speaker ports. The headliner is nice and tight but does display some staining around the edges. The dash has some waviness to it and shows some pulling in a couple spots. The driver’s side bolster exhibits some wear along the outer seam.ENGINE BAY AND TRUNK
Engine Bay
The engine bay was gone through heavily when the car was having its mechanical restoration and because of this it remains in good clean order. Painted surfaces are smooth and clean. Hoses, cables tubes, and clamps are all in good order. Proper stickers are present where applicable. The airbag has a fantastic original appearance to it.Trunk Area
There is a strut tower brace in the front trunk that causes the carpets do not fit properly. Some of the buttons on the carpet are missing and there is some general staining present. Under the carpets, however, the front trunk area appears in good orderly condition with some original surfaces but an overall tidy appearance. The correct space-saver spare is held in place with the appropriate screw in tie-down and still has the plastic spacer underneath it. Overall the metal on the inner fenders looks nice and tidy with no signs of any prior issues.MECHANICALS
Engine
The engine on this car was completely overhauled in 2016 and very few miles have been put on it since. As such, it remains in fantastic mechanical order. It fires right to life and quickly settles into a smooth idle that drops lower as the car warms up. Once up to temperature the engine makes fantastic power and when the turbos kick in the car screams towards redline. The car is currently fitted with a high-quality fab speed exhaust that sounds fantastic.Transmission
The transmission was also rebuilt in 2016 and remains in excellent working order. The clutch operation is smooth and easy and transmission moves effortlesslyBrakes And Suspension
The suspension was built in 2016 and with few miles placed on the car since then, retains excellent road manners. There are no odd noises or characteristics to note. The brakes perform as they should and bring the car to a smooth controlled, issue free, stop.Tires
The car is currently fitted with Bridgestone Potenza RE-11 tires on all four corners that are fairly new with excellent tread life left. The rears are 255/50/16 and the fronts are 205/55/16.DRIVING EXPERIENCE
Driving one of these early turbos is truly an experience every car lover should have. While the turbo lag is certainly something to be wary of its immensely fun to experience the thrill of being thrown back into your seat as the forced induction takes hold of the acceleration. This particular example is very well sorted and presents a fantastic opportunity to acquire an early Turbo Carrera that is immediately read to drive and enjoy.
When I look at the price for this 930 I view it similarly as I did that ’89 930. It seems fairly reasonable for what is a very desirable model year. Given that the ’89 has been for sale for a little while I might be overestimating the market for the 930 in general. I don’t think this one is as well priced as the ’89, but it doesn’t look bad to me. I should state, even though there are few differences, a ’76 930 is quite a bit more valuable than a ’77 and I tend to conflate the two when I think about them. I still think this is fairly priced, but it’s something to have in mind.
So why might the price here be reasonable? Part of that is down to documentation, which seems somewhat limited in regard to this 930. It was restored fairly recently and repainted very recently by the current sellers, so we aren’t looking at a totally original early 930. That mostly pertains to its mechanical state and the exterior though. The interior is stated to be in original condition. What we see of that interior shows well. It has a nice patina to it and looks in reasonably good shape all around. The sellers have provided sufficient description to understand the details and their website provides a lot of pictures so I think we can at least get a good grasp of the condition. It sounds like the interior represents both the most flawed and also most original part of the car.
In a way that is the story of this 930. It’s mechanical condition is stated to be quite good. Its ownership seems mostly known, but otherwise servicing seems limited to its recent restoration. However, that restoration has left it in excellent mechanical condition. Likewise, the exterior, which was recently painted, looks great. The interior since it retains a higher degree of originality shows more flaws, but also shows its age well.
Overall this is a pretty nice early 930 and one that can be enjoyed immediately. The price probably could come down a little, but it’s not too bad and if a PPI confirms the mechanical condition it might be quite a bit better than plenty of others we’ve seen.
-Rob
