Porsche 911 (993) GT (1996)

In 1995 Porsche introduced the new 993. Although they were probably unaware at the time this was to be the last of the iconic air-cooled 911s. In competition, all-wheel-drive had been banned by most sanctioning bodies by the mid-1990s. This was as a result of Porsche's success with the four-wheel drive 961, Audi's rally wins with the Quattro, and the later track success of the Nissan Skyline. This presented a problem for Porsche, whose Turbo was fitted with four-wheel drive; the solution was simple and this was the GT2, which was built with rear wheel drive only. A side benefit turned out to be significant weight savings, and the GT2 was instantly competitive.

A factor of Porsche's intention to go racing was that they had to build a number of road legal GT2s in order to homologate the model for racing. At about 430 horsepower the 3.6L twin turbo flat six ran higher boost than the standard Turbo model and developed almost as much horsepower as the racers and was mated to a manual six speed gearbox. The GT2 shared the cutaway wings with the Carrera RS and had removable and replaceable bolt-on flares in order to fit wider wheels for racing and quickly fix crash damage. The Large rear wing provided additional down-force, with air intakes on the sides for the engine. With saving weight in mind the bonnet and doors were aluminium and the side and rear window glass was thinner. In addition the three-piece, light alloy Speedline wheels had magnesium spiders. In fact the body was lowered by 20mm compared to the 911 Turbo to reduce drag.

It is believed that just 172 road-going GT2s were built. Supplied new in 1996 to Mizwa Limited of Tokyo, Porsche’s Japanese distributor of the time. This car was supplied in the rarer hue of Arctic Silver; most 993 GTs supplied in the more common Polar Silver. This example was optioned with the Higher Amperage Battery and Green tinted windscreen. It is desirably fitted with Black/Grey Leather Bucket seats, Radio, Electric Windows and Air Conditioning making for a thoroughly usable example.

Most recently the car resided in California and was exclusively serviced by a marque specialist in San Diego. Forming part of a curated collection of the finest examples of the marque, this GT2 was imported in to the USA in 2014. Since then, the car has remained with its importing owner before we imported the car to the UK. Since its delivery in 1996, this GT2 has covered just 26,300 miles from new and received no fewer than 16 documented services.

The GT2 presents superbly and is accompanied by its complete tool kit, spare wheel, manuals, service book and a substantial volume of invoices. It is available to view virtually from our showrooms just outside London immediately.