The Porsche 935 is one of the most iconic racing sports cars. It’s also one of the most extreme mutations of a street 911, pushing the envelope of aerodynamics and the rule books. Porsche engineers found there was no stipulation of where the headlights needed to be located; in short order, the super aerodynamic “slantnose” appeared. There was, however, a stipulation that the original rear window had to be retained – but there wasn’t a rule that there couldn’t be a second, more aerodynamic window – so later 935s got a more slippery profile channeling air to that very important rear wing. That wing was so important because the 935s were at times pumping up to 800 horsepower through those rear wheels – enough to make them as fast as prototypes had been only years before.
The 935 was so successful that many were continually modified and raced from their original launch in the late 70s until well into the mid-80s – unusual for a top-spec race car, which is usually antiquated in a year or two. This was the case with the last 935 I wrote up, a 1977 Porsche 935 that was later updated to the top Kremer spec. Today’s car took a different path, originally beginning life as a 934 before being sold to the Minister for Sport in El Salvador who upgraded it first to 934.5 spec, then to full 935 spec. It was in this full 935 spec that the car ran Daytona in 1981 and 1982, though it was uncompetitive compared to those Kremer prepared cars. At that point, the car was again modified – this time back to 934 spec until 1985. Since then the car was both crashed and restored back to the 1981 spec, in the “El Salvador” livery celebrating the Central American championship heritage:
