Porsche 911 Turbo – A History

It was at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 1973 that a silver prototype, perched on the Porsche stand, wowed onlookers with its distinctive appearance. From the familiar sloped 911 engine cover extended a new, wild-looking rear spoiler with air intake louvres and a thick rubber lip around its edges. Visually, the show car looked like the 911 Carrera RS 3.0, a car that had just become available for sale, but the badges on the rear wheel arches made it clear that, in reality, this was a thoroughly new model. The badges said ‘Turbo’, and from this point forward that motif would develop yet another Porsche tradition. Join us as we explore the history of the Porsche 911 Turbo.

Underneath the rear spoiler and explaining the turbo badges was a flat-6 engine with a single turbocharger. It developed 280 horsepower and enabled a top speed over 160 mph. These sounded like figures from a pure-bred racing machine, and that is essentially what the new car was.