The 964 generation of Porsche 911 is best remembered for being the last iteration cut from the same cloth as the first 911s 30 years prior. Underneath its timeless body, however, the Stuttgart-based automaker’s latest offering was said to be 85 percent new when compared to its Carrera 3.2 predecessor.
Leading the way was an all-new naturally aspirated air-cooled 3.6-liter flat six-cylinder engine known as the M64. This engine was all aluminum with dry-sump lubrication, twin-spark ignition, and seven main bearings on a forged crankshaft. The chassis saw the first suspension redesign since the 911’s inception, with coil springs and shock absorbers replacing the previous signature torsion bars. Power steering and antilock brakes were also added for the first time, both as standard equipment.
All this updated technology created a new hurdle for Porsche engineers: how to incorporate the Turbo model. While they scrambled to adapt the new M64 engine to turbo configuration, the first 964 Turbos launched with a tweaked 3.3-liter engine from the preceding 930-chassis 911 Turbo. In February 1993, Porsche finally announced the 911 Turbo 3.6, the highest-performance regular production car the firm had ever produced.
Fed by a single KKK K27 turbocharger, power increased to a reported 355 horsepower and 384 pound-feet of torque. The engine shared most internal parts with that of the stock 964, but new pistons and camshafts provided the required 7.5:1 compression ratio. Road tests of the period reported a 0–60 time of just 4 seconds, on par with some Porsches of today.
The 964 3.6 Turbo was only sold for the 1993 and 1994 model years with fewer than 1,500 cars produced in total. The car was elevated to icon status when Will Smith and Martin Lawrence used a black Turbo 3.6 in Michael Bay’s iconic 1995 action film Bad Boys. Its low production number makes the late 964 Turbo 3.6 one of the rarest and highly coveted 911 models to date.
Finished in striking black over cashmere and black upholstery, this Turbo appears ripped from the movie posters on teenage bedroom walls of an entire generation. The car was completed 31 August 1993 and originally delivered to New Jersey. Build documents show it came well equipped with dual heated front seats, lumbar support, 18-inch polished alloy wheels with Porsche crest center caps, recoil bumpers, and a top-tinted windscreen.
The 964-based Turbo 3.6 coupes are rare, fast, and extremely collectible. When Will Smith’s character Mike Lawrey returned to the wheel of a Porsche in the reprise Bad Boys for Life film, it was in a late model 911 Carrera 4S—a capable car, to be sure, but one lacking the appealing menace of the original black 964 Turbo. Slide behind the wheel of this example, and it will take just one turn of the ignition and press of the throttle to grasp why these, of all Porsche 911 Turbos, are so highly prized.
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