Porsche 930 no55

The Porsche 930 Turbo

Following on the back of its 917 racing success in the early 70s, Porsche decided it would use its expertise with turbo charging race cars to build the ultimate road going 911, the first Porsche Super Car.
In the spring of 1975, the first Porsche 911 Turbo took a place of pride in the showrooms of the Porsche dealerships. Not quite 45 years later, the car that changed the world has become a legend Porsche 911 Turbo.

Developed by combining the technologies from the Turbo Carrera RSR 2.1 and the Carrera RS 3.0 of 1974, Porsche would introduce the 911 Turbo as its flagship model, the quietest and most luxurious super high-performance car that Porsche had ever offered. With its 1140Kg, the 1975 930 Turbo is the lightest and purest turbo Porsche ever built.

When the new 911 turbo was introduced at the Paris Salon in October 1974 it was lacking nothing and priced accordingly, more than double the price of a standard 911.

It was impossible for anyone to mistake the muscular new bodywork of the Turbo for any ordinary 911; its front fenders and rear quarter panels were drastically flared to accommodate larger 15-inch-diameter Fuchs forged aluminum road wheels, seven inches wide in front and eight inches in the rear. The rear ”whale-tail” spoiler not only added downforce but its separate intake grille also supplied cooling air to the engine compartment. A deep chin spoiler was added below the nose to further improve and balance the handling. Early on, the 930 Turbo earned the reputation of being a widowmaker. The rear weight bias combined with turbo lag created a pendulum effect that brought the rear end out at an inopportune time.
Many of the first 274 cars ended their journey crashed into a rock wall. There is so much weight hanging on the rear axle and early turbo tech that creates difficult handling characteristics. By comparison, today’s generation of the Turbo shed the widowmaker image thanks to 4WD, traction control, and modern turbo tech.

Therefore, the 930 Turbo is a true piece of automotive history that will most certainly never be repeated because it was too much to handle for most people. The cruel Turbo lag and fearsome Oversteer is scary, alright. but as William S. Burroughs once highlighted that ”danger is a biologic necessity, like dreams. If you face death, for that time, for the period of direct confrontation, you are immortal.”

Due to the overwhelming demand for the new flagship and very limited production of only 274 cars, Porsche offered the first cars built to ”friends of the factory”. Celebrities, Royals, even Steve McQueen would have to wait for their cars and settle with later 1976 models.
The inaugural model year of 1975 was never available in the U.S. market. Its racing success with the 934 and 935 would contribute further to the Turbo legend.

The 930 1975 H-series a rare breed

Lightest turbo with its 1140kg ever built by Porsche.The 274 H-Series produced have a lighter and more responsive feel than any other variant of the 930

• Body painted flag mirror
• Speaker grill on top of dash pad
• Bare metal black instrument cluster surround
• 1975-style instrument panel gauges and controls
• 1975-style accelerator pedal
• Non-pleated (smooth) door panels and leather bottom pockets
• Non-pleated (smooth) rear deck
• Round front seat back tilt release knobs (sport and standard)
• No embroidered turbo script on left rear seat back
• Blaupunkt Köln standard radio (no cassette) with speakers in rear deck only
• Blaupunkt Bamberg (w/ cassette) optional with speakers in rear deck and doors

The Porsche 911 Turbo (930) A street athlete with a remarkable Le Mans Racing History

In early spring 1975 Guido Haberthür bought one of the first Porsche Turbo delivered by the factory, chassis 930 570 0023. But instead of driving the car on the road normally, he ended up racing it at the 24 Hours Le Mans 1975 and ended up in an amazing 15th overall place. This was a remarkable performance with a brand newly bought nearly stock 1975 3.0-liter Turbo. Today this would hardly be conceivable, in the 1950s it was the rule, and in the 1970s it was certainly the exception.

Antithesis to the energy crisis

The new 911 Turbo celebrated its premiere in October 1974, amid the recession and the energy crisis. Some would not have bet a penny on this car, who should buy such an expensive car with a price more than double of a standard 911? But the sceptics was proven wrong. The newcomer was 260 HP strong and weighed 1140 kg. At the booth in Paris men and children pressed their noses flat on the side windows to take a look at the speedometer, which reached up to 300 km / h.

930 No.13 from road to racing car

Herr Haberthür was not only a garage man but also the owner of a racing team with entry rights for the 24 Hours of Le Mans 1975, intended for two 911 Carrera RSR racing cars. Due to money constraints Haberthür decided to sell one of the RSR vehicles and was now left with one unused starting place. And as it happened to be, the Swiss pilots Claude Haldi, Peter Zbinden, as well as the Frenchman Bernard Béguin stood there without a car.

Automobile Club de l'ouest (ACO) had introduced a new "GTX" class for Le Mans, which applied to non-homologated production vehicles. Only a few modifications to the production cars were allowed.

Suddenly Haberthür and his team seemed to have a car that was very well suited to this new category. Together with the support of the factory, Haberthür and his team made some necessary modifications to the car. A stronger Turbo charger was equipped and a roll cage, screwed Cibié lights onto the hood and fitted golden BBS rims with Michelin tires. A long-distance tank of 100 Liters replaced the series tank. A Vitaloni rear-view mirror mounted on the right improved the visibility for traffic behind them – essential for survival in Le Mans. But on the whole the 911 Turbo was still close to series production.

Like a fairy tale, but it happened just as well

Haldi / Zbinden / Béguin placed the Porsche 930 in 44th out of 55 starting positions. In terms of performance, the 930 was well equipped against many of the 911 Carrera competed, the 930 found itself in the top 20 ranks after just a few laps. The only weak point was the series brakes, which ran too hot. After all, the production Porsche left top-class racing cars like several Lola T292 / 294s behind them and completed 291 laps or around 3900 km in 24 hours. And without any major problems, if you ignore the brakes.

The class win and a corresponding cup rounded off the success. In its race report, the Automobile Revue paid tribute to the performance of the 930 team: "Two Swiss teams were successful in the 24-hour race. Haldi / Zbinden / Beguin brought they’re not yet homologated Porsche Turbo to 15th overall place, so they won in this special category as well: it was a strict standard Porsche Turbo, but the brakes did not meet the requirements. The front brake discs had to be replaced.

One year after the first 930s had left the factory, in early 1976 Porsche introduced the 934 and later the legendary 935. The 935 Introduced in late 1976 as the factory racing version of the 911 (930) Turbo went on to win the 1979 24 Hours of Le Mans overall, and other major endurance races, including Sebring, Daytona, and the 1,000 km Nürburgring. Until 1984 the 935 had won over 150 races worldwide.

“Without the 3.0-liter Turbo, Porsche’s turbocharged racing story would be a shadow of what it is today and, perhaps, Porsche would never have achieved the reputation of being the groundbreaking, technology-driven manufacturer that it still trades on today.” Ryan Snodgrass

Porsche Turbo 930 1975 Chassis 930 570 0023

Porsche 934 1976

Porsche 935 1976

Porsche 935 1977 “Baby”

Porsche 935 1978 “Moby Dick”

No. 55, a unique car

1975 Porsche 930 Turbo Copper Diamond metallic

Type 930/50. 260 bhp at 5500rpm, 2,994 cc SOHC air-cooled horizontally opposed six-cylinder engine with a single KKK turbocharger and Bosch K-Jetronic fuel injection, four-speed manual transmission, independent front and rear suspension, and four-wheel ventilated disc brakes. Wheelbase: 89.4 in.

• Car No. 55 of only 274 built for 1975 inaugural model year.
• With its 1140 Kg, the 1975 930 Turbo is the lightest and purest turbo Porsche ever have built.
• Matching-numbers example in special order paint color Copper Diamond Metallic Paint. code 432
• Cinnamon brown leather interior with perforated seat inlays.

Presented here is my Porsche 930 Turbo, No. 55 an exceptionally early example out of only 274 examples built for the inaugural model year. A very rare and early Porsche 930 Turbo.

This 1975 911 Turbo went into production 27th of January 1975 and was delivered 5th of March 1975 to Porsche Center AUTORAMA in Verona Italy as an exhibition car. The car was bought by a Swiss gentleman and while the name of the first owner in Switzerland is unknown, the current owner acquired the car from well known Porsche collector and author of the Carrera RS Book, Dr. Georg Konradsheim in Vienna.

A two-year restoration to concourse standards was started in early 2016 by one of Europe’s top early 911 specialist shops. The condition was very good with no rust at all and with only 92,000 KM on the odometer before the restoration started.
The car is 100% stock and complete, including the hard to find original carpeting, date matched Fuchs wheels - 7x15 and 8x15, and rare black original head liner.
Today, fine matching numbers examples of 1975 Porsche 930 turbo are very difficult to find. Ryan Snodgrass, the author of the Turbo 3.0 book, estimates that only 20-30 of these initial cars remain in the world today, making this model the definition of exclusivity.
Finally, i am proud to say that my 930 1975 Turbo surely is one of the best examples of early 930 3.0 Turbo H-series cars on the planet.

Restoration Handbook

Porsche 930 No. 55

Media

The car got the attention of two of the biggest Porsche magazines in Europe and was featured in their September and October issues. Total 911 made a full road test and an eight page article as well as an article in GT Porsche.

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