1979 Porsche 911 Turbo 3.3

This 1979 911 Turbo 3.3 4-speed is a fine looking car.

This model has a 95,000 mileage but bear in mind that the engine has been rebuilt and the turbocharger upgraded. It’s also had a bare metal respray at least once and, as even the briefest look at the original interior will tell you, the car has clearly been well looked after and maintained.

It starts, goes, handles, rides and stops exactly as it should, all accompanied by the gloriously unmuted soundtrack of that legendary flat 6.

It has more history than Hampton Court Palace and comes with photographic evidence of a bare metal restoration in the not too distant past.

We think it’s a good ‘un.

The paintwork and finish are generally in very good condition, which is a testament to the quality of the bare metal bodywork repairs and respray carried out in 2008. The car has a good depth of shine and lustre to it from every angle.

The panels are free of any ripples, creases, dinks, dents, folds, lumps, bumps or dimples to speak of. The doors slam shut with a deeply satisfying metallic clunk that will be familiar to anyone who’s ever owned a classic 911. The shut lines are clean and even.

The original alloys have recently been refurbished and are free of any significant marks or blemishes. The matching Continental tyres have plenty of life left in them.

There are a few scuffs and scratches on the n/s front valance and a tiny bit of bubbling below the o/s headlight and on the o/s front sill. There are also a few chips to the paint on the o/s door edge and on the inside rim of the rear o/s wheel arch.

Finally, there are a couple of scratches and marks on the n/s of the sunroof and we noticed that the sunroof doesn’t seem to fit entire snugly within the seal.

This may be just a case of opening and closing it a few times (if you can find the switch, which is one of those things that Porsche likes to hide in silly places), or you may need to look at the seals. Either way, we don’t imagine it’s a big deal.

As far as we can tell, it’s really very strong all round and it certainly presents extremely well.

The condition inside is nothing short of remarkable, particularly when you consider that this is a car that first put its rubber on the road in 1979, when The Police, Blondie and The Boomtown rats were in the charts, Apocalypse Now and Moonraker were in the cinema and Jeremy Thorpe was in the Old Bailey.

The interior of this 911 Turbo is a fine place to be. Black leather with really vibrant and colourful tartan inserts and door cards. We think it works really well.

Either way, the fabric is in very good condition and the leather seats – which were always done particularly well by Porsche – show only the lightest creasing around the bolsters. Which is more than you could say for many of us of a similar vintage.

The carpets, mats and headlining are good, So, too, are the classically minimalist dashboard and controls, some of which take some locating. Those wacky German funsters at Zuffenhausen really did like to hide things where no-one could find them.

The rear seats - good only for luggage, the very young, the very small or the very masochistic - are in good nick and display attractive ‘Turbo’ embroidery when turned down. The bonnet luggage compartment is pristine and contains a Porsche toolkit roll and a retrofitted strut brace.

The central locking doesn’t work. The electric mirrors do work, but can be somewhat eccentric in how they go about it. The armrest storage unit is coming away from the door on the passenger side.

The undersides seem to be very well preserved, with nothing more than a few spots of superficial rust to speak off. Everything is straight, clean and wears a good coating of wax/bitumen.

As ever, there’s really not much to reward anyone who peers into the engine bay on a 911. All the important stuff is hidden from view. What we can see, however, looks fine, and it’s an impressively clean and tidy place.

A fully stamped service book covers the early years of this car’s life. A thick wad of invoices, bills and photographs covers all the work done thereafter.

On 19.6.07 this car had covered 92,561 miles. So, it’s not done very much between then and now.

This car has had a great deal of work done to it over the years, at considerable expense to several people who must have been verging on fanaticism in their passion for this 930 Turbo.

In 2001 Autostrasse had the engine out and stripped, refurbished and rebuilt the gearbox.

In 2003 the car had over £5k spent on bodywork refurbishment and a respray, and a further £4.6k spent with Autostrasse on stripping the cylinder heads and rebuilding the engine with new big end, main, con rod and intermediate shaft bearings, plus new timing chains, valve guides, piston rings and con rod nuts and bolts.

In 2008 the car and engine were effectively rebuilt. Among other things, this meant a full bare metal respray, an almost endless (and documented) list of replacement parts, and a refurbished and upgraded hybrid turbo. The car had then covered 94,452 miles.

10 years (and about 500 miles) later in 2018, the current vendor replaced the clutch, fitted a new battery and oil filter, refurbished the alloys and serviced the vehicle.

This car has an MOT, with no advisories, until 26.10.21.

Please visit the documents section of the gallery of this listing where you will find photos of this and other paperwork to support our claim that this car has been maintained to a very good standard.

If you’d like to inspect the car prior to placing a bid – something we would encourage – then please use the Contact Seller button to arrange an appointment.

And please be reassured, we’ve undertaken a full COVID-assessment and put into place strict control measure to enable us to safely facilitate a no-contact, socially distanced viewing that includes disinfection of the vehicle before and after your viewing.

However, if you’d rather not come to see the car in person, please give us a call and we can shoot a personal video of the car honing in on any areas you’d like us to concentrate on.

Or, even better, why not contact us with your mobile number and we can set up a WhatsApp video call? You get to direct us in real-time, giving you a virtual personal viewing experience while maintaining the lockdown. We like to call it ‘The Market’s 2020 Vision’…

This very special car is now fully fettled, raring to go, and looking for a new owner to enjoy its rare and undoubted charms.

Other people with deep pockets have done a lot of heavy lifting to keep this car in such good condition. Which should mean you won’t need to go too deeply into your own pockets for a while.

As far as we can tell, there are no nasty surprises waiting to leap out and startle the unwary. Nor are there any grounds for thinking that this vehicle will deliver anything less than years of thoroughbred motoring and an ear-to-ear grin on the face of the owner.

There are good reasons why the 930 Turbo is a shoe-in for most people’s motoring Hall of Fame – and, in our opinion, this is an example that can only help uphold the model’s iconic status.

We’re confident to offer this car for auction with an estimate of £64,000 - £74,000.

Viewing is always encouraged, and this particular car is located with us at The Market HQ near Abingdon; to arrange an appointment please use the Contact Seller button at the top of the listing. Feel free to ask any questions or make observations in the comments section below, or try our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.