Porsche 935 Straßenversion – Spark

1983 Porsche 935 Straßenversion
Spark - S2093 (resin)  

Published 08/06/19

One of the nice things about having lots of money is that you can buy very nice cars. However, lots of money won’t necessarily buy you uniqueness. For uniqueness in terms of cars, you need money (lots) and connections. That’s the case of Mansour Ojjeh. In the early 80’s Mansour Ojjeh was the CEO of the TAG (Techniques d’Avant Garde) group. In 1983 Ron Dennis offered Ojjeh stock options in McLaren if the TAG Group developed technologies for McLaren. They struck a deal and TAG became the owner of 21% of McLaren. At the time, McLaren used Porsche engines for their F1 cars, and TAG developed the TAG-Porsche engines of 1984 and 1985. One of Ojjeh’s requests for the deal was to get a Porsche 935. But not any 935, he wanted a 935 Straßenversion (“street version”). The problem is that Porsche never made a street-legal 935.

May have turn signals and all, but that’s a race car.

So basically, Ojjeh wanted a very special car. For cases like that, Porsche established the Sonderwunsch Division (“Special Request Division”). If you wanted a 911 with a special feature, you needed to talk with the Sonderwunsch Division. But Ojjeh didn’t want a car with a special feature, but a car that Porsche didn’t produce. Based on the 930 generation of the 911, the 935 was a pure-blood race car. Developed in 1976 for FIA’s Group 5, it dominated tracks all over the world.

Even though the 935 was a formidable track weapon, it would be a very poor passenger car. So to have a good passenger car, Porsche transformed a 911 (930) Turbo into a 935 instead. The 935 Straßenversion used a regular 930 chassis, but the rest of the car came from different sources. For instance, the flat-6 engine came from the 934. Displacing 3299 cm³, with SOHC, 12 valves and KKK turbo it delivered almost 400 hp.

Spark at its finest.

Suspension and breaks came from a 935, with BBS center-lock wheels. With the 934 engine, the car could accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in about 5 seconds. And top speed was close to 300 km/h. But the big deal about the car was the body that looked just like a “real” slantnose 935. With pop-up headlights and all. Mansour Ojjeh also asked for a hi-fi stereo system, a plush interior and an exclusive paint job. In the end, he asked for almost 550 “special features” – his request had 17 pages! Because it was for him, Porsche delivered everything that was requested. With all that, the 935 Straßenversion is one of the most unique factory-made Porsches ever.

I have a hard time seeing this car as anything but a race car.

Fortunately for collectors like me, Spark offers the car in scale. As you can see, it’s a delightful model, that at least in my eyes looks perfect in scale. The paint job is terrific, and add to that the great detail level, you get a gem. Unfortunately a hard to find model, but a gem nonetheless.

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