1980 Porsche 911 (930) Turbo

In late 1973, in contrast to most car manufacturers who were struggling with the fallout from the oil crisis, Porsche was on a high. Its turbo-charged 917/30 sports racer had been hugely successful in the US Can-Am championship and the associated high-profile marketing helped keep their US showroom doors swinging. Having accrued a wealth of experience of turbocharging air-cooled engines from their racing programme, it seemed to make perfect sense for Porsche to utilise that knowledge by applying it to their famous rear-engined sports car, and consequently at the 1973 Paris motor show, they unveiled a prototype turbocharged 911, the Type 930.

Small car companies, as Porsche was in the early seventies, with a deep involvement in racing and strong leadership, can work very quickly, as is evident from the short amount of time it took to develop a viable turbocharged road car. Porsche engineers tested both the 2.7 and 3.0-litre engines, with the 3.0 air-cooled flat-six (that could trace its origins back to the 911 RSR) being chosen as it produced more torque low down. By attaching a Kühnle, Kopp and Kausch (KKK) turbocharger, the 930 was the most powerful production Porsche thus far and, suddenly, the 911 was a supercar.

The production-ready 911 Turbo was shown at the Paris show in autumn 1974, and not surprisingly in an era when turbocharging was seen as rather exotic, captivated the world's motoring press. With both racing homologation factors to consider and a marketing opportunity to maximise, the original 930 was assured a full production run from 1975 when the first cars rolled off the line. Rightly, it was billed as a supremely fast and luxurious flagship model, combining ballistic performance and head-turning looks with air conditioning, electric windows and other creature comforts.

The car's power and performance were celebrated (and kept on the ground) by an enormous "whale-tail' spoiler that cut aerodynamic lift from 397lb to only 38lb, and a wider track that needed those bulging wheel arches to keep it decent. These stand-out visual features becoming known as the "Turbo-look", an expression still widely used today.

In 1977/78, capacity went up from 3.0 to 3.3 litres and an air-to-air intercooler was positioned under the rear spoiler. The spoiler was re-profiled and raised slightly to make room for the intercooler assembly, and this meant saying goodbye to the "whale-tail' and welcoming the equally distinctive "tea-tray'. By cooling the pressurised air charge, power was increased from 260bhp to 300bhp, bringing the 0-60 mph time down to 5.0 seconds, and the larger engine helped reduce a lot of the turbo lag inherent in the earlier version. Porsche also upgraded the brakes to units similar to those used on the 917 race-car, but were able to keep the original strengthened gearbox, which had the benefit of freeing up space inside the casing for larger and stronger gear clusters, with an impressive torque capacity of 475lb ft.

Porsche discontinued the 930 after model-year 1989 when its underlying "G-Series' platform was replaced by the 964. A turbo version of the 964 officially succeeded the 930 in 1991 with a modified version of the same 3.3 litre flat-six engine, and since the original and iconic 930 there have been turbocharged variants of each subsequent generation of 911.

This very fine 1980 example is a UK car, in right-hand drive and presented in lovely original condition, even retaining all its original keys, the tool-roll and air-compressor, as supplied with the car when new. Painted and trimmed in black, this most discerning combination makes the 930 somehow more charismatic.

Unusually, it is fitted with the rare and costly factory option of "Dr.Fuhrmann" seats, a light and comfortable sports seat designed in period by the company's Head of Development, Dr.Ernst Fuhrman and normally only fitted to the famous Martini 930s of 1978/79.

The car has been used sparingly, having covered just 44,251 miles, with only four fastidious owners.

This lovely Turbo is a classic icon and is ready to be used as it was intended, with the vendor having done just this fairly recently when he drove the car from Goodwood to Monaco as part of a prestigious driving tour, where he says it performed "superbly'. He added that his 930, whilst on this trip, was revered more often by fellow drivers and onlookers than any other car, regardless of age and value.

This car comes with a large history file, containing many invoices for work carried out and a fully stamped service record indicating that it has been looked after by the Porsche Centres Malaya of West Sussex and Heddel & Deeks of Dorset, plus Porsche specialists Tom Ferguson of Gateshead and DSA of Aylesbury. It is evident that the car has always been well-maintained, having just had a £1500 service, with new tyres / brakes and a fresh MoT. It also comes with a Porsche Certificate of Authenticity.

This is a great example of the legendary Porsche 930 and is ready to enjoy.