When asked what car poster featured on their bedroom walls, many of a certain generation may remember a Countach 5000 QV, Testarossa, or 911 Slantnose Turbo, but a decade later things had changed. By the mid-1990s Porsche’s advertising, specifically, their “statement” posters began to dominate bedroom wall real estate, and chief among them was a poster featuring a 911 Turbo speeding through a forest and beneath it, the statement, “Kills bugs fast.” Nailing the automotive graphic arts zeitgeist unlike anything before it, the 993-generation 911 Turbo became THE 1990s sports car.
Of course, great advertising is only part of the story. The final air-cooled 911 Turbo made ample use of the technology pioneered on the legendary 959 supercar. The new 993-generation 911 Turbo would be the first to feature all-wheel drive with hollow spoke wheels, twin-turbocharging, a six-speed transmission, and ABS brakes as part of the technological transfer. According to the notoriously conservative Porsche Press Department, zero to 60 miles per hour would take 4.4 seconds thanks to the new all-wheel drive system, although many period magazine reports pegged it at 3.9, with only the rarified Turbo S being faster. With widened rear wheel arches and fixed “whale tail” rear wing housing the intercooler, the new 911 Turbo offered attractive, yet purposeful exterior styling.
Finished at Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen in November 1995, this U.S.-specification 1996 model year 911 Turbo was ordered in classic Polar Silver Metallic over a Black leather interior. Factory. Already well-equipped with a 40 percent locking differential, large red painted Brembo brake calipers, a full-leather interior, Litronic headlights and a Hi-Fi sound package with 10 speakers, this 911 Turbo was ordered with heated Black leather sport seats and a six-disc trunk-mounted remote CD-changer. Porsche rightly noted that “although the Turbo is Porsche’s most expensive model, it offers more performance for the money than any other car in the exclusive class.”
It is believed this “C02” U.S.-market 911 Turbo was sent to Japan early on, perhaps upon first delivery, where it obtained its Rest of World (RoW) front fender indicators and taillights along with the removal of the U.S.-specification small front rub strips. Service records on file show work completed every two years while in Japan in 2013, 2015, 2017, and 2019. Purchased by the consignor in 2021 and now in the U.S., it is noted to be a well-preserved and original example, offered with less then 33,000 miles at the time of cataloging, believed to be original. After arriving in the United States in an effort to restore it back to its original U.S.-specification, the speedometer and odometer were returned to Imperial units, calibrated to read in miles. Most recently, in Sleepers Speed Shop of Costa Mesa performed servicing in 2023 and 2024 with fresh Michelin Pilot Sport tires and is noted to feature consistent paint meter readings. Furthermore, it includes its English language factory-issued Owner’s Manual and Maintenance book, trunk-mounted spare, tire inflator, and jack.