As a company, Porsche has always been on a quest to make their cars go faster, both on the track and on the road. This quest for speed is exactly what led them to begin experimenting with turbocharging technology in the late 60's. In order to meet FIA homologation rulings, Porsche put the 911 Turbo into production and introduced the vehicle at the Paris Auto Show in October of 1974. Taking the turbo technology from their 917/930 cars and mating... it to 3.0 liter flat-6 from the Carrera RS was a recipe for success and soon had consumers hooked. Excitement for the car was great enough that Porsche decided to keep the car in production even after the homologation requirements had been met, leading to the awesome lineage of forced induction 911s that still remains to this day.The car on offer here, a 1977 Porsche Turbo Carrera, chassis number and engine number 6870231, is a fantastic example, finished in original colors and featuring a well preserved original interior. Currently, the odometer shows just 57,762 miles. According to the limited copies of documents we have with the car, it appears to have been delivered new to Chick Iverson Porsche of Newport Beach, California. The car spent a good portion of its life in California, ending up in Palm Springs until 1985 when it moved to Wyoming. The car then ended up in South Dakota, at which point we have copies of receipts for close to $50,000 of receipts for a mechanical restoration done in 2016. The restoration was very thorough and covered a complete engine rebuild, transmission rebuild, front and rear suspension rebuild and more. When we acquired the car in July of 2018 it still wore what we believed to be original paint but it was unfortunately failing and we considered it to far gone to be preserved. We had the car professionally, glass out, repainted in its original color but kept the well preserved original interior intact. Between the mechanical restoration and the repaint in original colors, there is not too much else this car currently needs and it would make an ideal car to drive and enjoy or with a few minor fixes would be an excellent candidate for showing.EXTERIORBody And PaintThe car was the recipient of a professional glass out repaint in its original color and as such remains in excellent condition. The fresh black paint is smooth and consistent throughout with nice rich color and good reflective quality. The body is likewise straight and tight with good consistent body and panel gaps all around.Glass And TrimAll the glass remains in good condition, with Sekurit branding on all windows except the windscreen which is branded, Pilkington. In an error made during the repaint the anodized trim piece on the top of both the passenger and driver side doors was painted black, a fairly easy correction, but an error worth nothing. The rest of the anodized trim, as well as all rubber pieces, remains in good condition. The headlights are nice clear, however, the finish on the inside of the buckets is a bit rough from road debris.WheelsThe black painted Fuch wheels are in excellent shape with bright and smooth metal surrounds, good consistent black paint and nice clean center caps.Notable FlawsThe trim piece that tops the doors is painted black instead of being anodized.INTERIORSeats And SurfacesThe interior of the car remains in well preserved original condition. The deep-bolstered seats retain good color and shape with minimal creasing. The drivers side bolster does exhibit some wear and separation at the seem. The carpets retain good color and show just a bit of characteristic wear in high traffic area. The headliner remains nice and tight but does exhibit some staining around the outer edges. Currently there are newer cocoa style mats covering the clean metal floors in the front section of the car. The rear parcel shelf shows some separation around the edges of the speaker areas. The top of the dash is in fair condition but displays a bit of waviness and some minor pulling near the vents on the leading edge. There is also some pulling evident on the dash front above the centrally located air vents. The surface on the sun visors is beginning to sag a bit but they are in overall good condition. The steering wheel has a good original look to it, with a bit of patina but nice tight stitching and no crack or separation. The ignition displays typical key scratching on the plastic bezel.Functionality And AccessoriesThe gauges are in excellent condition with bright color fun hands and nice white lettering. They a clear and easily legible and appear to display their requisite functions appropriately. Both power windows move up and down with ease and the sunroof slides open without issue. All switchgear and knobs are in good condition and retain good graphics and bright colors. They appear to all perform as intended. The proper Blaupunkt radio is in place and in fantastic order. The gear selector moves early through its range of motion and the emergency brake holds the car in place without issue.Notable FlawsThe interior is in nice original condition but because of this does display some imperfections. The rear parcel shelf displays some cracking around the speaker ports. The headliner is nice and tight but does display some staining around the edges. The dash has some waviness to it and shows some pulling in a couple spots. The driver's side bolster exhibits some wear along the outer seam.ENGINE BAY AND TRUNKEngine BayThe engine bay was gone through heavily when the car was having its mechanical restoration and because of this it remains in good clean order. Painted surfaces are smooth and clean. Hoses, cables tubes, and clamps are all in good order. Proper stickers are present where applicable. The airbag has a fantastic original appearance to it.Trunk AreaThere is a strut tower brace in the front trunk that causes the carpets do not fit properly. Some of the buttons on the carpet are missing and there is some general staining present. Under the carpets, however, the front trunk area appears in good orderly condition with some original surfaces but an overall tidy appearance. The correct space-saver spare is held in place with the appropriate screw in tie-down and still has the plastic spacer underneath it. Overall the metal on the inner fenders looks nice and tidy with no signs of any prior issues.MECHANICALSEngineThe engine on this car was completely overhauled in 2016 and very few miles have been put on it since. As such, it remains in fantastic mechanical order. It fires right to life and quickly settles into a smooth idle that drops lower as the car warms up. Once up to temperature the engine makes fantastic power and when the turbos kick in the car screams towards redline. The car is currently fitted with a high-quality fab speed exhaust that sounds fantastic.TransmissionThe transmission was also rebuilt in 2016 and remains in excellent working order. The clutch operation is smooth and easy and transmission moves effortlesslyBrakes And SuspensionThe suspension was built in 2016 and with few miles placed on the car since then, retains excellent road manners. There are no odd noises or characteristics to note. The brakes perform as they should and bring the car to a smooth controlled, issue free, stop.TiresThe car is currently fitted with Bridgestone Potenza RE-11 tires on all four corners that are fairly new with excellent tread life left. The rears are 255/50/16 and the fronts are 205/55/16.DRIVING EXPERIENCEDriving one of these early turbos is truly an experience every car lover should have. While the turbo lag is certainly something to be wary of its immensely fun to experience the thrill of being thrown back into your seat as the forced induction takes hold of the acceleration. This particular example is very well sorted and presents a fantastic opportunity to acquire an early Turbo Carrera that is immediately read to drive and enjoy.
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