1980 Porsche 924 Carrera GT Coupé

Footnotes

'Porsche has great plans for the 924. The car that began life as a Volkswagen, then became the basic model for the Porsche lineup, is slated to move upmarket until one day it will replace the 911...' - Road & Track, August 1980.

Volkswagen's decision not to proceed with their designed-by-Porsche 914 replacement led to the latter taking on the project themselves. Launched in November 1975, the resulting 924 drew heavily on Volkswagen/Audi components: the 2-litre, four-cylinder, overhead-camshaft engine being a development of the Audi 100's, and the four-speed transaxle a VW unit. A five-speed Porsche-designed gearbox and improvements to the suspension were early developments, and in 1978 came the first truly high-performance 924 - the Turbo. The latter's extra 45bhp raised top speed to around 150mph, and this figure would be further improved upon by the 924 Carrera GT. A road model with competition potential, the luxuriously equipped Carrera GT was launched at the 1979 Frankfurt Show. Easily distinguishable from lesser 924s by virtue of its bonnet air intake and widened wheelarches, the Carrera GT was built in limited numbers - only 406 were made - 400 cars being the minimum requirement to gain homologation for rallying and Group 4 events. The standard version came with 210bhp but this could be boosted to well over 300bhp for racing. Three cars were entered by the works in the 1980 Le Mans 24-Hour Race, finishing 6th, 12th and 13th.

For 1981, in the February of which year the 100,000th 924 left the factory, two more limited edition derivatives of the Carrera GT were offered. Produced for that season only, these were the GTS and GTR, the former being a 245bhp lightweight variant, although still road legal to comply with homologation regulations, while the latter was an even more powerful (375bhp+) competition car intended for racing and rallying. The 924 line was discontinued in 1988.

Delivered new to Freiburg, Germany and first registered on 19th December 1980, this example of one of the rarest of 924 variants is finished in the rarest and most sought-after silver colour. It comes with the only 3 options possible for the model; the removable sunroof, 16 inch Fuchs wheels and the all-important limited slip differential.

The original service book reveals that the car was delivered new to its first owner (an engineer) by the Baden-Auto GmbH dealership. Clearly well looked after, this 924 Carrera GT was sent to the supplying dealership, Baden-Auto, which later became Porsche Zentrum Freiburg, at least once a year.

The Porsche stayed with the original owner up to 1995 (though it seems like he no longer drove the car after 1994) when it was sold to a friend and business partner in Belgium. There is an 'Internationaler Zulassungsschein' on file, issued in Freiburg with the name of the Belgian owner, 'Jean-Claude Lamblin', which indicates he drove it from Freiburg to Brussels. The car was serviced by Carrera Motors in Ghent in 1997 and again in 1999 with 71,468 kilometre showing on the odometer.
The odometer reading in 2010 was 78,609 kilometres and is now 79,180 kilometres. We are advised that the car is totally original; has never been involved in any accidents; and retains its factory-applied paintwork, etc. It still presents beautifully, the interior in particular being in excellent original condition.

The car comes with its original Blaupunkt Berlin radio with flexible stalk (in box); all books and tools including compressor; spare keys in the original pouch; and its original Porsche pouch containing the original owner's manual and service booklet, the latter stamped on 15 occasions between January 1981 and June 2016. Additional documentation consists of a Porsche Certificate of Conformity (1995); printout of the Porsche Kardex confirming the car's numbers; Belgian Carpass recording the odometer readings between October 2000 and June 2016; and the aforementioned 'Internationaler Zulassungsschein'.