My 951 turns 40 this month!

[cda951]

It's hard to believe that the earliest 944 Turbos are now 40 years old! My Stone Grey example was built in August of 1985, and while I don't know on which day it was completed, I'll mark it as today as it is also my girlfriend's 40th . August of '85 was the last month of 944 production without a US DOT-mandaded 3rd brake light in the hatch---I have seen 9/85 cars with the 3rd brake light.

I bought the car in 2007 from a customer who was the original owner---it was a bit outside my budget at the time, but had all the right options: LSD, sports seats, Koni sports shocks, and I liked the grey on burgundy color combination. It was my only car at the time, and I almost immediately began taking it to track days, first as a 100% bone-stock car. It has since seen a steady evolution of its suspension from "improved" for the JI class of POC time trials to experiments with rear coilover helper springs, to full coilovers and geometry correction front and rear (I'll soon make a separate post about this). I learned so much about driving on the limit, suspension setup and geometry, and paid it forward as a POC and PCA driving instructor.

I don't drive the 951 as much as I used to, which is sad, but I also have 10 cars on my lot, cannot drive them all at once! I rebuilt the cylinder head almost 15 years ago, but the bottom end is original and is tired with almost 180K miles on it. I'd love to do the 07K swap, but that's pricey and not legal in CA . . . . I did enjoy installing VEMS engine management and a larger Evergreen K27/6 hybrid turbocharger and learning how to set up standalone engine management. It also overpowers the stock 951 brakes during track use, so looking into big brake kit options.

I don't do many track days anymore, have switched my focus to road rallies and fun road trips, which provide continuous enjoyment with friends instead of a series of 20-30 minute adrenaline rushes, plus it is quite fun to get lost and discover hidden gem backroads. The 951's last major outing was a road rally north of Redding in CA in October 2024, it was a lot of fun and the rear suspension beam proved to be worth the effort. Despite how low and stiff the car is now, it was supremely comfortable and capable during the 8+ hour transit drive to and from the area of the rally. The 944 Turbo remains one of the best cars out there for long road trips, and mine has been driven to Texas and back a couple of times, and I also drove it the entirety of CA Highway 1 from Santa Barbara to Portland, OR without stopping, 21 hours!

I hope I can keep this car forever.

Let's see some other 1985-built 951s!

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[Tom]

I believe mine was built in '85, though I do have the third brake light. If memory serves, it was delivered in February of '86 in Southern Cal. I bought mine from the first owner too, in 1999. It had 32k miles on it and we agreed on a $12k selling price. When I went to pick it up, one of the clutch disc springs popped out and the clutch pedal locked up, so we agreed to split the cost of replacing it at the dealer -- $900 each, $1,800 total.

[cda951]

Haha, exact same thing happened to me one morning while driving to work, rusty springs from the original clutch disc popped out (had ~130K miles on it at the time) and jammed the clutch, had to jackrabbit it through a few stop lights but got to work. One of the fellow Porsche techs helped me slam out the clutch job in one evening after work that day, back on the road the next day .