If you think a Guards Red, “letter series” 911 is the ultimate Eighties Porsche, the 1981 Porsche 924 Carrera GT coming up for sale this month with Classic Car Auctions would like to have a word.
By the 1980s the two-pronged transaxle range Porsche had created in part to replace the 911 was going places. The 928 scooped 1978’s Car of The Year Award, and a year later, Zuffenhausen revived the Carrera nameplate for a Le Mans homologation special, basing it on the increasingly popular 924.
The Carrera GT featured wide arches, a fibreglass body kit, wider wheels, and a turbocharged 207bhp inline four, its top-mounted intercooler fed by a prominent bonnet scoop. Launched in 1980, the car allowed Porsche to compete in Group 4 racing – Andy Rouse and the late Tony Dron drove a GT to 12th place at Le Mans in 1980 – while later GTS and GTR variants pushed the envelope further still.
Of only 400 roadgoing GTs, just 75 of these cars were built in right-hand drive, earmarked for the UK, and a year after that Le Mans entry, Chris Morrison, sometime manager of Blur, Thin Lizzy and Ultravox, bought the car you see here. Morrison’s Carrera GT was supplied by AFN (Archibald Frazer-Nash), which itself had built an endurance record winning 924 racer – an example of which sold, also through CCA, in 2020.
The ex-Morrison car has had what CCA describes as “a painstaking total refurbishment” at a specialist, which rebuilt its engine, turbo and limited-slip differential. New Bilstein suspension and Brembo brakes were fitted, alongside a full stainless-steel exhaust and refurbished GT Fuchs alloys. Its black and red pinstripe interior (de rigeur Eighties décor) was also stripped out and revived.
The restoration bill came to more than £40,000, and CCA reckons the car will fetch between £75k–£85k – though the “924 GT” plate will not be coming with the car. The upper estimate should put the Carrera GT bang on target for an example in condition 1, concours shape.
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