1979 Porsche 930 (...and 78's too!)

The “Porsche turbo Owner’s Manual Model ‘79” features a few 1970s 911 photographs.

On page 11 and 12, the seats feature a tweed fabric and round backrest release knob that were not used in a 930 but look similar the 1975 911s silver anniversary models.

On page 14, the instrument panel and dash are not from a 930 but probably a mid-70s 911s with a 8000 rpm tachometer (redlines just before 7000 rpm) and a speaker cutout on top.

http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp269/carrlane/79manual1.jpg

http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp269/carrlane/79manual2.jpg

 

Nice catch.

 

There's been some recent activity on a couple of the other sites asking for the best year 930. As I am an advocate of the '79 I tried to expound on the virtues of the year. I did not want to be redundant with what I said in those posts here but I did want to share some 1979 Le Mans information that some of you may find interesting.

1979 was the year that the first 4 overall positions at Le Mans were all won by cars based on the production 930 design (935/934). In the book, 24 Heures Du Mans 1979, Published by Publi-Inter, 1980, it was noted, "never since 1952, had a car this closely related to a production model won the coveted 24 Hour Race," and it has not happened in the 33 years since! The book also noted, "the tail type used on the standard 3.3 liters 930 (tea tray) was preferred by some 934 competitors for better stability on the Mulsane Straight as well as for additional cooling over the original smaller aerofoil (whale tail)."

The picture below was taken during scrutineering at the '79 Le Mans race (24 Heures Du Mans 1979, page 64). It shows a beautiful non-sunroof 3.3 liters 930 complete with tea tray, sugar scoop headlight rings, and elephant snorkel washers. I love those CIBIEs!

Don't you just want to jump in, turn the key and take it for a spin?
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Both cars pictured look to be the 934 dirivitive.. considering the air damn, flares, mirrors. Note also the center-lock BBS wheels on car in forground. Nice pic however!

 

Porsche’s ‘78/79 factory brochures depicted a few non-optioned sunroof and non-optioned right mirror 930s. It would be interesting to know how many 930’s were also ordered with radio or A/C delete options. A radio delete would have also deleted the power antenna (unique to the 1970’s 930s).

http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp269/carrlane/930del1.jpg

http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp269/carrlane/930del2.jpg

http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp269/carrlane/930del3.jpg

 

Something I noticed when I scanned images from the U.S. ’78/79 brochures is that the turbo badge is slightly smaller than those you typically see on ‘78/79 930s. Is it possible that the very early ’78 930s used a smaller turbo badge similar to the turbo carrera script from the ’75-77 930s? I believe all of the images from the '78/79 brochures were '78 930's with the '80 ROW brochure featuring '79 930's.

onboost, does your very early ’78 have a smaller turbo badge?

http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp269/carrlane/930badge1.jpg

http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp269/carrlane/930badge2.jpg

 

Interesting. Think it's true? I miked the "b" and the "o" heights from the "turbo" on my 2/79 build 930 and came up with the following;
the leg of the "b" is 26.5mm
the "o" is 20.3mm

TIP: PUT PAINTER's TAPE ON YOUR DECK SURFACE FIRST to prevent scratches you might get from your micrometer before doing any measurements.

Can we get some other results?

 

I don’t have a micrometer but my turbo logo (11/79 build) has an “o” that measures about 20mm and the “b” at about 27mm.

The other key difference is the way the “t” is shaped on the turbo carrera script. The 930’s featured in the ‘78/79 Porsche brochures clearly have the earlier turbo carrera script for the “t” in “turbo”.

Not sure of the VIN, but Sloan’s 1978 green metallic 930 with 982 miles has the later turbo script (same as the ’79 to ’89 930’s), see closeup at the bottom of the image below.

Were all the 930’s in the ‘78/79 Porsche brochure pre-production 3.3 liter cars or were the early ‘78’s equipped with the ’75-77 turbo badges?

http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp269/carrlane/930badges.jpg

http://sloancars.com/2883/1978-930-green-metallicgreen-orig-982-miles/

 

I am satisfied that my earlier and your late "79 930 are the same size script.
This dosen't preclude that badges on any car can be replaced for any of many reasons.
Check out this Sloan SOLD 930 with the backwards wording that seems like the larger "turbo" script.

http://sloancars.com/1218/1976-911-turbo-coupe%c2%a0-blackblack-leather-41815-miles/

It is hard for me to see the "t" difference if any but I think if the two are infact different the preported old has oval "b" and "o" vs, the later having round "b" and "o".
To be satified we need to get input on measurements on the 3.0 liter cars as well as the early '78s. If this turns out to be true all "r's" would probably be the same across the board on the early script vs. new.

 

Pelican lists 930 turbo badges with two different part numbers. Unfortunately, they don’t provide a size for the ’78-88 badge (they may in fact be slightly larger than the ’76-77 badge).

930 559 317 01 – 76-77 'Turbo' Black Script (11.4 X 2.85cm)

930 559 317 00 - 911 Turbo (1978-88)

In addition to the differences you mentioned, one that stands out to me is the position and thickness of the “t” in “turbo”. For the ’78-88 badge, the right portion of the “t” is spaced further to the right of the logo compared to the '76-77 badge. If they are in fact different, the early '78's were probably equipped with the '76-77 turbo badge.

http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp269/carrlane/turrbobadgepart.jpg

 

The Porsche English language flyer for 1978 (printed in 1977, 73-70-86010) features a U.S. silver 930 (large rear bumpers and red tail lights) that has the earlier ’76-77 turbo emblem.

http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp269/carrlane/78flyer1.jpg

http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp269/carrlane/78flyer2.jpg

The Porsche English language flyer for 1979 (printed in 1978) features a ROW red 930 (small rear bumpers and yellow tail lights) that has the later ’78-88 turbo emblem.

http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp269/carrlane/79flyer1.jpg

http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp269/carrlane/79flyer2.jpg

 

Great find - that picture really shows the difference.
The PORSCHE PET for the '75-'77 Turbo in illustration #810-00 shows a #12 "turbo" badge (listed as 930 559 317 00 only). The drawing looks like a combination of the 317 00 and 317 01 badges. Also shown is a #13 "Carrera" badge without a number, which usually means NLA.

Since 317 00 comes before 317 01, does that mean that the 00 "turbo" badge is what the early ROW 930's used?
Was the 317 01 used exclusively with the "turbo Carrera" badged US cars? If so, did the early '78's receive the leftover 317 01 badges?
FWIW, according to the '87 to '89 PET, the "turbo" badge changed again to a new number (930 559 317 02) about 2/3's of the way into the 1988 930 production on all coupes, cabs and targas and continued through 1989.

 

930 part numbers are odd. For example, the trunk fuse cover number on my '79 is 93061216100 whereas the ’77 fuse cover part is 93061216101. You would think the later number would be for newer cars but it is not always the case. Of course all these early fuse covers are NLA (even though Porsche parts websites lead you to believe the parts can be back-ordered).

Since the part numbers are different, the turbo badges must also be different with the mount spacing, size, etc. Perhaps the early '78's did receive the 317 01 leftover badges. I wonder if the early U.S. '78 930's used for magazine road tests have survived? None of the 1978 U.S. magazine's road tests featured a photo of the turbo badge on the rear deck.

 

My '79 930 fuse cover is also numbered 93061216100. I believe the '77 930 had the same number. The '75-'76 930 had one that was preceeded with 911 rather than 930. That number was 91161216101.

I'd be interested in seeing some 3.0 Liter Euro 930 "turbo" badges as well some of the early US 3.3 Liter badges to see which style they used.

 

1979 Porsche 935 K3, Le Mans winner on the cover of the Aug ’79 Christophorus magazine.

http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp269/carrlane/christo3.jpg

The 935 has been restored to 1979 Le Mans race trim with Group 5 decals.

http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp269/carrlane/christo2.jpg

 

Car and Driver’s April 1978 Porsche Supertest featured a beautiful Minerva blue 930 with turbo graphics. Car and Driver’s test came two months prior to Road and Tracks and their test car was probably a very early ‘78 VIN. There are no images of the 930’s rear deck lid but the cutaway engine does appear to have an early 317 01 turbo badge (albeit with the Porsche crest on the left).

Is Car and Driver’s ’78 test car a survivor?

http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp269/carrlane/78cdtest1.jpg

http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp269/carrlane/78cdtest2.jpg

 

Hey idart,
The links don't seem to be working

 

Agreed for the upper car, which is the winning No. 82 934 that finished 4th overall and 1st in Group 4.

Regarding the No. 80 car, I quote (24 Heures Du Mans 1979, Published by Publi-Inter, 1980, page 65), ".....Salamin and Vial were to drive a car they had shared in '78..... This 930T with 3.3 engine..... had to be ballasted up to the required weight (1180 kg - 2601.4 lbs)..... From year to year, and give or take a sponsor more or less..... this Porsche had retained the same presentation". After reading the above and based upon the known liberties taken for entries of the 1979 race (witness the BMW M1 that year), there was no reason for me to believe that this 3.3 liter car could be considered anything but a 930 with some added 934 plumage.

But, based upon the picture alone it was hard for me not to disagree, at least in part, with what onboost felt about the No. 80 car. So, I did some searching and came up with the following picture;
http://www.racingsportscars.com/photo/1978/Le_Mans-1978-06-11-065.jpg
It is purportedly the same car in 1978 livery (sans flares and BBS wheels) and again driven by Salamin and Vial at Le Mans but a year earlier (note the air dam and mirrors).

Is the 1979 pictured No.80 a 930 or a 934? I have seen it listed as a 934 once elsewhere but I tend to favor it as a 930 mostly because of the 3.3 liter engine. Also because I feel that the two pictures along with the statement, “From year to year, and give or take a sponsor more or less..... this Porsche had retained the same presentation" (24 Heures Du Mans 1979) support it. But, make your own decision - let me know what you think.
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A friend of mine has a 79 930 that was converted to 935 K3 bodywork and a modded twin turbo motor for racing.

 

A friend in the UK just got this '79 930 w/Martini graphics and interior. Neat! Anyone have an idea about how many 930s came out with this option?
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Sweet car! Can we see some more pictures of the interior?

 

Those Martini colored seats are wild! They are also the very rare Dr. Fuhrman seats.

 

Auto Express, 12 June 2008 article on the ’78 Porsche 930 Turbo Martini. The article mentions that this example was on Porsche’s stand at the British Motor Show in 1978. Interior photo shows the Dr. Fuhrmann puffy seats (an expensive option for '78-79 930's).

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/gallery/7072/porsche-911-turbo-martini-pictures/page/1/0

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/car-reviews/38635/porsche-911-turbo-martini

Here's a '79 930 3.3 Turbo Martini supplied by Ramsey’s Porsche Newcastle also with the genuine Dr Fuhrmann orthopaedic seats.

http://www.alexandersprestige.co.uk/porsche-911-turbo-33-martini