1987 Porsche 911 Turbo Coupe

Porsche street cars had a very strong reputation for excellent durability—Turbos broke that rule

by Jim Schrager

In order to compete against bigger-engined rivals, Porsche homologated the type 934 race car in 1974 and embarked on an entirely new phase in race car development. As word spread about the incredible performance, the initial run of 500 cars disappeared like Houdini. They made another 800 that year, yet didn’t satisfy the demand. Porsche transferred the lessons learned from their turbocharged race engine to a 3-liter, heavily reinforced version of the light-alloy flat six, and inadvertently discovered they could sell lots of cars in the supercar league. It was introduced to the U.S. as the Turbo Carrera in 1976 and was up-rated in 1978 to a 3.3-liter intercooled monster that could do 0–60 in five seconds with a top speed of 165 mph. From 1978 on it was called simply the Turbo, but emission control requirements forced it to leave the U.S. market after 1979. Europeans continued to enjoy the car, and so did American buyers by way of the gray market. It took a...