1989 Porsche 930 Turbo Slantnose Coupe

This car, Lot 20, sold for $212,800, including buyer’s premium, at Worldwide Auctioneers’ Auburn, IN, auction on April 23, 2022.

The 1975–89 Porsche 911 Turbo (Type 930) market has ebbed and flowed over the decades. For some, these cars are old, heavy luxo-barges with engines that are expensive to maintain and a chassis that might kill you if you stab the throttle at the wrong time. For others, they are the iconic turbocharged Porsche of all time — beautiful and eminently collectible.

A new set of dynamics enters when you add the slant nose, boxed rocker panels and vaned air inlets of option code M505. Are these cars symbolic of the dramatic excesses of the 1980s? Or are they the ultimate 930s: rare and exotic? Perhaps both opinions are valid.

All aboard the turbo train

Turbocharging has been employed since the early 1900s on locomotives, airplanes and heavy equipment. With regard to automobiles, supercharging was more prominent historically. Ferdinand Porsche even designed supercharged engines for the Auto Union “Silver Arrow” race cars of the 1930s.

General Motors introduced its first turbocharged production cars, the Oldsmobile Jetfire and Corvair Monza, in the early 1960s. Michael May — an engineer focused on Porsche, BMW and Ferrari — designed a turbo kit for the 2.3-liter V6 Ford/Mercury Capri that increased that car’s power by 80%. He sold some 4,000-plus of them. In 1969, BMW built a turbocharged 2002 for racing that won the European GT Championship. Later in 1973–74, BMW built 1,672 2002 Turbos for the road. Porsche took note of it all.

Porsche began developing turbocharged 911s for both racing and street use in the late 1960s. Race Director Ferdinand Piech had a 2.0-liter version built and tested, but it was disappointing. A few years later, Ernst Fuhrmann — father of the 4-cam engines of the 1950s–60s, and President and CEO of Porsche as of 1972 — had a 2.7-liter version built and installed in his personal 911. It led to a prototype 930 that was shown at the October 1973 Frankfurt Auto Show (with a fake engine). Another drivable example followed for the October 1974 Paris Auto Show.

The first production 930 was a 1975 model of 2,994 cc and 260 hp, sold only in Europe. It was brought to the U.S. as a 1976 model producing an emissions-constrained 234 horsepower. In 1978, the 930 took two big forward steps: adding an intercooler that compacted the intake mixture, and increasing displacement from 2,994 cc to 3,299 cc, which improved torque. With an emissions-induced hiatus in North America from 1980 to ’85, 930 sales lagged. Reintroduced into the U.S. and Canada in 1986 by new Porsche CEO, American Peter Schutz, Turbos sold well and gained popularity as Porsche’s ultimate road warrior.

Big numbers

Road testers usually approved of Porsche’s 930s, while recognizing that severe oversteer could be easily induced. While Turbo models added up to 300 pounds over a base 911, the cars accelerated well (0–60 mph in 5.4 seconds) and recorded strong top speeds (169 mph). All went well if that performance happened in a straight line. Introduce curves, however, and road testers and consumers alike preferred lighter, nimble, less tail-happy 1973–74 RS models and other street 911s.

The 1989 model 930 is noteworthy because it included a 5-speed gearbox. The former 4-speed was a beefed-up Type 915 unit. Porsche withstood torrents of complaints over that 4-speed, saying the Turbo needed that stronger transmission. That dilemma was solved when Porsche adopted the sturdy Getrag-built “G50” gearbox in 1987 for Carrera models, then shared it with Turbos in 1989. The G50 Turbo would be a single-year model. The 930 died in 1990 due to emissions constraints.

“Ordinary” 930s aren’t rare

Porsche built a lot of 930s — 20,685 between 1975 and 1989. There were just 284 1975 models, then as many as 1,257 for 1976–78, before panic-buying of “the last U.S.-spec 930” prompted 2,052 sales in 1979. During the 1980–85 North American exile, sales were 741 to 960 cars per year. With that market regained in 1986, the last four years of production accounted for 2,074 to 2,490 cars annually, with 2,204 1989 models sold in the 930’s final year.

Because of the G50 gearbox, the 1989 is widely considered the best of the 930s. While the rare Europe-only 1975 model and the North American first-year 1976 model bring higher prices, the 5-speed 1989 is the best driver of the bunch.

It was also sold in cabriolet and Targa bodies, if either is your preference.

Slantnose exclusivity

Starting in 1982, the late Rolf Sprenger’s Special Wishes/Exclusive Department at Porsche executed Slantnose conversions to mimic the aggressive appearance of the brand’s 935 racers. The first one was for Mansour Ojjeh, the CEO of TAG and the TAG-McLaren F1 team. The team purchased Porsche-built engines to win the Formula One World Championship twice. By 1987, demand was sufficiently strong to make the conversion available as a factory option. A base 930 was about $71,000 in 1989, and M505 added around $40,000.

Our subject car was one of 39 Slantnose coupes for North America in 1989. It was ordered in Guards Red over a black interior and had 37,568 verifiable miles. The car was also option-laden, with a limited-slip differential, short shifter, sunroof, lumbar support for the supple leather seats, a radio upgrade and, of course, the M505 “Slantnose Body Option.” This 930 had been a theft recovery that led to a funky CARFAX, and that could have caused some reluctance among bidders. That said, recent sales data indicate that at $212,800, this sale was market-correct.

The 930 market has been volatile. We have seen 1989 930 Slantnose coupes sell in the mid-$100k area, up into the low-$300k range. A rare Slantnose Targa with 7,918 miles sold at RM Sotheby’s 2022 Arizona auction for $511k (SCM# 6950497).

Buckle up. Slantnose 930s may be a roller-coaster market, but excellent 1989 examples should prove to be a good — and enjoyable — long-term buy. ♦

(Introductory description courtesy of Worldwide Auctioneers.)