The 1973 Porsche 911 ‘Turbo’ show car is to to appear at the Concours of Elegance at Hampton Court Palace from 30 August to 1 September.
Chassis 9113300157 was the first road-going 911 to wear the Turbo badge (actually a hand-painted script) when it appeared on the Porsche stand at the 1973 IAA Frankfurt Motor Show, establishing the concept of a turbocharged 911 two years before the production 930 Turbo was introduced in 1975.
It was built on a 911 S in Porsche’s design studio Style Porsche, overseen by chief engineer Helmuth Bott. When it made its show debut, it was a case of smoke and mirrors, however, as the car wasn’t packing the turbo 2.7-litre flat-six but a naturally aspirated motor, with the components such as the Turbo mocked up in wood and painted.
It also featured a more aggressive design, pre-saging the G series, as well as the RSR racer and 3.0 RS.
The concept did the rounds of the shows including Paris, Tokyo and Melbourne, before Aussie racer and Porsche importer Alan Hamilton spotted it at Stuttgart – then fitted with numerous pre-production RSR parts – and bought it.
Since then it has lived in the USA before returning to Europe. It is now equipped with a turbo motor.
The Porsche is one of 70 of the world’s rarest cars in the Concours though more than 500 will be on display over the weekend. Other key elements of the event will be the Levitt Concours – devoted to female owners – 30UNDER30 celebrating younger owners and the Club Trophy.
