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

935/79, 1979 24 Hours of Le Mans Winner

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3kfUUmniSM[/ame]

935/79, 1979 24 Hours of Daytona Winner

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDcayDFietg[/ame]

Photo from Michael Cotton’s Turbo book that illustrates when a 935 was “unclothed” of its outside panels, the body underneath was very similar to a production 930 (per the FIA Group 5 rules).
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For the ’78 and ’79 930’s, Porsche followed the same VIN practice as the '75-77 models, starting the VIN sequence for U.S. and ROW cars at “11”. Many sources incorrectly start the VIN sequence for these 1970's production 930’s as “01” vs. “11”. For the 1980 model year, the VIN’s were changed for the ROW models with “93A” specified for the “930". For homologation purposes, Porsche also used 930 VIN's for the '76-79 934’s and 935’s.

An accurate VIN production schedule for US and ROW models is included in Michael Cotton’s excellent book on the 930. Here’s the VIN’s for the '76 to '79 U.S. cars and 934's and 935's:

1976 model year
9306800011 to 9306800530
934 Group 4 – 9306700151 to 9306700180

1977 model year
9307800011 to 9307800727
934 Group 4 – 9307700951 to 9307700960
935 Group 5 – 9307700901 to 9307700913

1978 model year
9308800011 to 9308800461
935 Group 5 – 9308900001 to 9308900025

1979 model year
9309800011 to 9309800816 (to Aug 79)
9309800817 to 9309801200 (continue 1979 series)
935 Group 5 – 9309900001 to 9309900032

 

i need to find that book. Would any "pre production" cars have been made w/ a serial number lower than xxx11 for crash testing or other purposes?

 

Charles, I'm not sure but pre-production models may have had a different VIN sequence altogether.

I believe the ’76-79 930 VIN’s in Michael Cotton's book are correct. The PCA, Porsche Family Tree booklets depict the '76-79 930 VINs starting at "01". However, two recent articles in Excellence magazine (late-79 U.S. 930 & 1st U.S. '76 930) discuss the fact that Porsche AG confirmed that the 930 VIN sequence started at "11" vs. "01". Most sources incorrectly state the VIN sequence starting at "01” - more mystery and allure surrounding these early 930's.

 

I spotted a 935 in the Porsche returns to Le Mans 2014 promos. Its a 1-second clip at 1:12 - 1:13 (in Martini racing trim - not from the ’79 race). There's also another 1-second clip in a promo that has some pretty-stock looking 930’s at Le Mans (see screen-shot below).

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lK6KqpI_eRU&feature=relmfu[/ame]
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those are 934 rsr's.

 

Good catch - a 934 finished fourth behind three 935’s at Le Mans in 1979 so perhaps this is one of those two entries.

There’s an awesome clip of a 956 closing on a 934 and the end of the Mulsanne straight in this 1983 video at 1:39 to 1:40…gives you an idea of the difference in top speed.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yni-W7s3Hp4[/ame]
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Michael, I very much like the white and red color combination on your 930. As you mentioned, the welded flares are one of the unique hand built features of the early U.S. 76-79 930’s (and ROW ’75-85 930’s).

In the book, “Excellence was Expected”, Karl Ludvigsen discusses the welded flares that were necessary for the larger tire widths for street and racing cars: “The wide-spaced tires were covered by fender flares like those on the Carrera RS 3.0, made of steel sections welded onto the basic body.”

Bruce Anderson also mentions the 930 welded flares in his book, “Porsche 911 Performance Handbook”: “It took Porsche quite a long time to realize that it was actually going to continue to build these wide-fendered cars indefinitely. When the factory started to produce the 930, it actually welded the fender flares onto the fender stampings as it built the cars. Finally, in 1986, the fenders for the Turbo were made as a one-piece part without the welded flares.”

Here’s an image from the book, “The Porsche 911”, Chris Harvey, 1980, that nicely illustrates the welded flares on an early 930 on the production line: Caption: “Fixed-head coupes-with or without 930-style wheelarch extensions are fabricated on the same production line.” From the photo, the 930’s welded arch can be seen prior to the finish work that blended into the body.
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The ’78-79 930’s had several seat options. The 930 featured in the May 19, 1979 issue of Motor Week had tartan cloth seat inserts. Pasha was also an option for the ’78-79 930’s.

Both tartan and pasha are rarely seen on '78-79 930’s (please post photos if your '78-79 930 interior is so equipped).
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2nd Place
1979, 24 Hours of Le Mans
Rolf Stommelen
Dick Barbour
Paul Newman
Porsche 935/79
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In addition to the 3 liter 930’s, the ’78 and ’79 930’s were available with Martini racing stripes. The Martini Porsche was not a special edition but an option (M42) for Grand Prix white models. This option code may have ended when Lancia was selected as Martini’s sponsor for endurance racing in 1981.

Photo depicts a ‘81 930 with the Martini racing decals. I believe the M42 option was quite rare for U.S. ’78/79 930’s (may have appeared more frequently on ROW models).
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[QUOTE Photo depicts a ‘81 930 with the Martini racing decals. I believe the M42 option was quite rare for U.S. ’78/79 930’s (may have appeared more frequently on ROW models).[/QUOTE]

I believe this may also be an '81 930 with Martini decals. Amazing detail work on this car...

http://prodetailing.blogspot.com/2009/09/porsche-911-turbo-930-martini-special.html

 

Dramatic exhaust flame-out as a French-entered 935, driven by Jean-Louis Schlesser rounds the Mulsanne corner at the ’79 Le Mans. The car ran has high as 3rd place in the early hours but finished 15th. Turbo flame-outs were common before Group C regulations were implemented by the FIA in 1982.
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Excellent coverage idart. Amazing really. Just a quick question on a newer 930 (mine is a 86). Do you let the car idle for any period of time (cool off period) before shutting it off?

 

on my 79 and i use dino oil, i typically drive the last few miles on no boost, then when i park it let it idle for about 30 seconds. if i have some on boost sprints within the last mile or so, i let it idle about 1 minute before shutting it off.

 

’79 930 that closed on eBay (reserve not met - no affiliation). This car was featured in an 6-page article in the June 2012 Excellence Magazine (interesting there is no mention of this in the auction).

The VIN is 9309801086 and it was equipped with late-79 features (flush headlight washers, Nippondenso A/C compressor, 85 mph speedo, etc.). Auction also included many spare parts including the original Fuchs wheels (and hopefully the front floating rotor brake spacers).

The auction states that this car is for sale only outside California since it was a 49-State car in 1979. Is it really that difficult to register a 930 in California?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/?cmd=ViewItem&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649&item=380458609672&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT

 

A few images from the 1978 911 SC and Turbo fact booklet produced by Volkswagen of America, Porsche+Audi Division for sales. What’s interesting is that these sales booklets were designed to highlight all of the great features of the ‘78 SC and Turbo but they failed to mention the brake upgrade for the 930:

“Although more renowned for their ability to accelerate, the ability of Porsches to decelerate is even more impressive. The 911 SC and Turbo will decelerate from 60 to 0 in a maximum of 3.2 seconds. In fact, the Turbo had a shorter stopping distance from 60 to 0 than any of 82 cars reported by Road Test in its July 1976 issue, with a stopping distance of just 135 feet.”

The test data used in the booklet was for the ’76 Turbo equipped with 911 S brakes. The 911 S brakes were very good and were used on the ‘76/77 930’s as well as the Carrera RS 2.7 liter but you would think the U.S. sales teams would be told that the "new" '78 3.3 liter 930 was the first Porsche production car equipped with 917 brakes. In the end, I guess the brakes were not important as there was a long list of people lined up to buy these cars anyway.
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surprised it didn't get any higher bids.

 

Interesting as they had the original "parts in the garage" but did not put them on prior to a sale.

 

1986 Road and Track article that discusses the different character of the new Turbo: “Porsche 911 Turbo Back in the U.S.A.”

“In its latest state, the 911 Turbo has had most of its rough edges smoothed. The engine, Porsche’s venerable, air-cooled flat-6 has been “smogged”, as we say, meaning that it meets emission requirements in all 50 states. A bit of diddling with the electronic control module and the fitting of a catalytic converter took care of that technicality without much loss in horsepower and performance. Intercooled, the 3299-cc, KKK turbocharged, Bosch fuel injected boxer motor develops 282 bhp at 5500 rpm, even in U.S. trim. And while it doesn’t have the same punch-in-the-stomach throttle response of its predecessors, it’s brawny enough to send the present-day Turbo scrambling from 0-60 mph in 5.0 seconds and to the quarter mile in just 13.4 seconds.”
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Hi guys, as a 930 owner this thread far exceeds anything I thought I'd find on a Ferrari site...Idart thank for the great info.. I saw that '79 (1086) in person in SoCal. The car had the entire exhaust system modified so the dealership didn't want to spend the money putting the OE equipment back on.. The Paint was in very good condition but signs of paint and body work on the rear quarters. Speedo was removed/replaced to a 150mph unit...The Mileage not really documented.. All the parts were in boxes and at that point I wasn't interested enough to open them up..For the mileage the interior looked worn as well..

 

that explains some of it but am still suprised it didn't hit 40k at least. i need that full exhaust. actually would love to find the OEM Euro shorty headers and muffler set up to stockpile.

 

$48,900 for direct purchase.

http://corvettemike.com/used-corvettes-for-sale/1979-Porsche-930-Turbo-1838

 

oh are you looking to buy a 930?

 

Good to know, Thank you