Project Gold, Porsche Classic’s first in-house ‘restomod’ project, has broken a record to sell for an astonishing £2.4 million at RM Sotheby’s recent Porsche 70th Anniversary auction in Georgia. The 1998 model year 911 993 Turbo took 18 months to build. The only original part is the bodyshell, with everything else coming from the Stuttgart giant’s 6500-strong inventory of brand new yet original 993 parts. The Golden Yellow paint is from the current 911 Turbo S Exclusive Series range and the wheels and interior have been refinished to match the black and gold theme, but otherwise it’s all period stuff.
Project Gold goes platinum
Where any further changes have been made, they are upgrades that could be found on the contemporary and very rare Porsche 911 Turbo S 993, of which just 345 units were made. Project Gold is still classified as a regular 993 Turbo, but it has the Turbo S side-intakes (an option for the stock Turbo), and crucially, the more powerful Turbo S engine developing 450bhp rather than 402.
The car was one of 51 cars in the anniversary sale, which was held at the Porsche Experience Centre in Atlanta. The £2.4 million hammer price came after a 37-bid war for ownership, and far surpasses the previous 993 world record of almost €1.35 million. While auctions normally pass in the blink of an eye, this one took a whole 10 minutes to conclude.
Net proceeds from The Project Gold sale will go to the Ferry Porsche Foundation. This was recently founded by Porsche as a charitable organisation aimed at tackling social issues while improving education and youth development.
