Throwback Thursday: Road legal Porsche 935 driven
The gist of the email was simple but enticing – ‘I have a 935 and you’re welcome to do a feature on it’. Oh, okay then, if we must. With southern England enjoying a record-breaking Indian summer, it was a good idea to get out of the office, and with the promise of a striking cover image, designer Neil quickly put his hand up to come along to tell snapper Ali what to do (someone needs to).
And so it is that I find myself in the opulent grounds of Simon Huber’s Surrey home, enjoying the sunshine and supping a mean cup of coffee, while Ali and Neil busy themselves with lights and shutter speeds.
The bright yellow 935 posing menacingly outside a huge garage block that contains a pretty 356 plus a 911 is an intriguing combination of 930, 964 and 993. It certainly beats being in the office, and a pleasant surprise at the end of September.
There’s work to be done, though, and I’m eager to find out more about the be-spoilered behemoth before me. “I never meant to buy it,” confesses Simon. “It was for sale at the Silverstone Classic auction this year and I chatted to Nick Faure about the Porsche.
“I wasn’t sure at first about a four-speed 911 but Nick assured me that the four-speed ’box was much stronger than the later five-speed unit so could handle the massive power output, plus the car had a good heritage, including a genuine 935 racing engine.
“To be honest, I was really looking for a balls-out RSR which I could have some trackday fun with, but it occurred to me that the 935 is really nothing more than an overgrown RSR. Also, at that time the car didn’t have any decals on it – it was plain yellow – and I could see it as a blank canvas on which I could have some fun.”
Simon’s a died-in-the-wool Porsche fanatic and has owned countless examples over the years: “I started off with a 930, then had a few 996s, including a modified Turbo and a Cabriolet.”
“I sold them all to pay for a round-the-world cruise on the Queen Mary, then started again when we got back. As well as these cars, I have a Cayenne Turbo, but that’s at the local OPC being fixed at the moment. The good news is they’ve found the problem; the bad news is that the labour charge is going to be over £600!”
Coming from a mechanical background – he runs a motorcycle dealership, GD Brown, with his son, Simon junior, who is also a big Porsche fan – Simon appreciates the engineering of Porsches: “The earlier ones are simple enough to work on, and I love the body shape; especially the rear end of a Turbo.”
To read more about this remarkable Porsche 911 Turbo creation, download Total 911 issue 81 to your digital device now.
Comments (0)