The first production Porsche 930 was introduced at the 1974 Paris Motor Show to homologate the 934 group 4 race car and 935 group 5 car. The 930 became a production model in 1975 and was marketed as the 911 Turbo. The 930 didn’t come to the US until 1976 where it wore the Turbo Carrera badge.
While modest by today’s standards, the early turbo had a 3.0 liter air cooled naturally aspirated engine and single turbocharger and set a new performance benchmark for Porsche. Only 274 customer examples were built in 1975, and it’s estimated that only ~100 of them are still known to exist (totally unverified and pulled from the Interwebs).
Known for its power, massive turbo lag, and tendency for snap oversteer, the 930 earned the nickname “The Widowmaker”. The car lacked any driving aids…no traction control, ABS and was under-braked for the power it had. Lift mid-corner, bad news. Turbo kicks in mid-corner, bad news. Come in too hot expecting the brakes to save you, bad news.
If the driver wasn’t prepared to handle the 930, they may find themselves wrapped around a tree. In the hands of a skilled driver, that understands the nature of these early Porsche Turbos, the cars are engaging, visceral, and nimble given they only weighed ~2500 lbs. The 1975 was the lightest production Turbo that Porsche would ever produce.
Here’s a great article for a more detailed look from Stuttcars.com
I took the photograph below at a Turbo 50 celebration hosted by 000 Magazine at the Skywalker Ranch in October, 2024. This concept car was displayed at the 1973 Frankfurt Motor Show when the idea of putting a Turbo in a road car was unheard of. The concept below was three Porsche prototypes in one. Originally constructed in 1972, it was used to develop the Porsche G body and then to develop the RS/RST 3.0 body before finally being turned into the Turbo concept car. The really funny part is that this car has never actually had a turbo in it! When it was on display at the motor show, it had wooden parts to mock up the turbo. When it was sold to a private owner, it had a 3.0 liter naturally aspirated RSR drivetrain, which is what it still has today.
Ryan Snodgrass wrote the definitive guide to these early Turbos and I highly suggest picking up a copy of his book if you are serious about these cars.
“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
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