1987 Porsche 944 Turbo

Some of you may remember this Porsche 944 Turbo from the Discovery TV show when Goblin Works Garage* is rumoured to have spent £17,000 in turning it into a dedicate track weapon. 

Probably best known for its WW1-inspired dazzle camouflage, which will destroy your enemy’s, competitor’s ability to judge how fast you’re closing in on them, the seller bought ‘E278 FRO’ from us around four-and-a-half years ago.

Clearly a man for whom the best isn’t quite good enough, he invested a further £10,000+ in making it road legal with a set of Porsche alloy wheels and more appropriate tyres, a pair of BB racing seats, adjustments to the roll cage, and reinstalling the lights. 

Now slightly tamer and fully road-registered, he’s only selling it because he isn’t able to use it as much as he’d hoped.

* www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPqFcrsdFEE

You might not immediately recognise it as a 944 Turbo – and if you don’t, then it  might not be the dazzle camouflage because the whole front end is taken from a Porsche 924 GTP Le Mans/Trans-Am and installed with custom arches and centrally-mounted rain lights. The rear benefits from the judicious application of wheelarches from the same model, and custom sills link the two ends of this very special 944. 

The dazzle camouflage is paint, not stickers or a wrap, and even though it came out of a rattle can, the quality of the workmanship is still evident. There are no significant dents, scuffs, or ripples either, and the doors and boot lid fit decently within their apertures.

Pop-up headlamps have been reinstalled, and these too have been done so neatly they look like they have always been there. Like the rest of the lenses, the headlamps are in good shape with no chips, cracks, or other damage.

The entire front lifts away, and while it is a two-person job it gives unparallelled access to the engine and suspension. 

That’s the practical reason. The other is that it is ACAF.

As is the rear spoiler, which is an adjustable six-piece jobbie that’s as aerodynamically efficient as it is cool. 

The 18-inch, lime-green OZ wheels that helped it lap Anglesey Circuit so effectively might have been ditched but they are included, along with the Toyo Proxes R888 tyres they were fitted with. Made in 2018, the rears are 275/35ZR18 while the front rubber is a more modest 225/40ZR18. 

The seller took the sensible decision to fit something a bit less extreme for road use and while these may not fit the wheelarches quite as well, their black colour and OE design help tone the Porsche down just a little. However, they have accumulated a few scuffs around their perimeter and sit against beefy spacers to help them fill the arches. 

The tyres are Falken ZIEX on all four corners, with 255/40R17 on the rear axle and 215/45R17 on the front. Made in 2023 and 2024 respectively, all have good tread.

We will never get tired of telling you that experience shows that matching high-quality tyres are an infallible sign of a caring and mechanically sympathetic owner who is prepared to spend the appropriate amount in maintaining their car properly. 

As for blemishes, it sports the usual chips and scratches every track car accumulates plus some orange peel to the paint on the bonnet and front wings, a crack in the nearside rear wing, more cracking in the paint where the offside rear wing joins the rear panel, and a little rust around the edge of the tailgate. The rear screen is also delaminating and the windscreen sealing rubber is scuffed.

The cabin bears little resemblance to the car Porsche so painstakingly assembled back in 1987: Gone are the fruits of decades of ergonomic expertise and any semblance of luxury, replaced by Spartan seats, a full roll cage, and a few race-essentials such as a lap timer, boost controller, and a race switch. 

You also get a deep-dish steering wheel to hang onto plus a fully-welded roll cage that’s triangulated for strength. Painted white like the rest of the interior metalwork, it’s a strong and workmanlike job that’s been made even more practical by some subtle rejigging to give better access.

Most noticeable, perhaps, are the things you don’t get: There’s no carpet, back seat, headlining, or door cards: The standard car weighs 1,350kgs and it’s probably fair to say that this one weighs less, even with the fully-welded roll cage fitted. 

You get the dazzle pattern on the doors too plus a suite of supplementary instruments and a pair of BB racing seats. Padded and featuring deep bolsters, they’ll hold you firmly in place no matter what sort of shenaniganry you get up to, aided-and-abetted by the harnesses. 

As for faults, the odometer is stuck, the boot locking cable has snapped ("should be a quick job to fix but I didn't have time" says the seller), there is a little rust in the driver’s footwell, and one of the instrument bezels has come loose. Some of the wiring is less neat than it could be too, so you might like to invest in some cable ties and shrouding. 

The Carhartt-wearing hipsters fitted the engine with a reconditioned KKK K26 turbocharger, a larger intercooler, a high-performance air filter, and a Stage 1 ECU and KLR chip. 

An article in the February 2020 edition of Practical Performance Car  suggests it also has a dual-port wastegate, a Bailey atmospheric blow-off valve, and a three-bar fuel pressure regulator. The boost can be controlled from the driver’s seat, and the result was said to be a 100bhp-increase from the Porsche’s factory 220bhp.

Not enough for you? Well, that same article suggests even more should be attainable, even if they lose Brownie points for using the American term for the camouflage in their title.

The stock brake calipers (which have been rebranded ‘GWG’) bite down on EBC discs and Blue Stuff pads to keep it reined in, while race-bred coilover suspension from GAZ will allow you to tweak the ride height, front camber, and corner weights to your heart’s content. The rear torsion bar has been removed but the factory limited-slip differential has been retained, as has the five-speed manual gearbox.

The result was 12 seconds faster around Anglesey compared to a stock 944 Turbo; clearly, they were experts at more than merely shaving the middle of their beard off.

The four-cylinder engine fires into life with a purposeful grunt and good oil pressure. It revs and idles well too, with a very appealing exhaust note. 

As you can imagine, our test drive went very well.

The engine bay is neat without being overly fussy, even if the windscreen washer system is somewhat less than elegant, and rust has taken hold of some brackets and the like. The former might need some creative thinking, but the latter looks like it is still a cosmetic issue and would be straightforward and satisfying to resolve.

Speaking of paint, as you’ll have noticed, the change of colour didn’t extend to the engine bay but, by way of compensation, the DVLA has been notified of its new hue and has amended its records accordingly. 

The underside is undersealed and no MoT tester has ever mentioned the dreaded words “structural” and “corrosion”.

However, the Porsche does not have an MoT certificate, the last having expired in September 2024. That was a clear pass though, so getting a new one might not be too onerous.  

The recent Vehicle History Check shows it was a Cat C write-off in January 2012, and it left Germany painted a stately Burgundy Red.

It’s had twelve former keepers too, and the (non-working) odometer reads 123,551 miles. 

Our guide price for this unique Porsche 944 Turbo is between £12,000 and £18,000, which at the lower end represents pretty much the same sum the seller has invested in it over the past four-and-a-half years. 

Dial in the £17,000 the TV show is said to have put into it plus the cost of buying a Porsche 944 Turbo in the first place and you start to get a sense of the scale of bargain this is likely to be.

Yes, it’s not a car for everyone but if you’re looking for beautifully handling track or hillclimb car, this one covers the bases. 

Viewing is strongly encouraged, and this lot is located at THE MARKET HQ in South Oxfordshire. Viewings are STRICTLY BY APPOINTMENT and we are open weekdays (apart from Bank Holidays) between 10am - 12pm or 2pm - 4pm. To make a booking, please use the ‘Enquire About This Vehicle’ button on the listing. Feel free to ask any questions, or try our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.