You’d be hard-pressed to find a brand that can balance the performance and luxury sides of building cars better than Porsche. Naturally, all the brilliance you see in showrooms these days is the result of countless struggles, some of which might seem absurd now that they’ve been overcome. And Porsche almost replacing the iconic 911 with the 928 grand tourer in the late 1970s is an example that’s now being taken a step further via this rendering portraying the 928 Turbo that never was.
The 911, with its rear-engined layout and its minimalist approach, was brewed according to a classic German/Austrian sports car recipe. And while Americans resonated with the Neunelfer, Porsche, which was smaller and less financially stable five decades ago, was looking for a new flagship model that would be tailored to the needs of U.S. customers. And this is how the 928 was born.
Holding a naturally aspirated V8 up front and packing more generous rear seats than those of the 911, the 928 was also more luxurious than the model it was supposed to take over from.
The then-futuristic 928 had one major drawback, though and you’ll easily guess this one: all the complexity of the car led to a hefty price. Couple this with the prospect of leaving die-hard Porsche fans without their beloved rear-engined layout, plus a management change and you’ll understand why the 928 and the 911, fortunately, ended up sharing the showroom floor.
Porsche would’ve probably built a 928 Turbo if it had retired the 911
When the 928 came to be in 1977, Porsche had only recently introduced its first 911 Turbo, an Autobahn blitzer that instilled fear in anything America had to offer and Italian exotics alike—this was dubbed 930 Turbo in Europe and 930 Turbo Carrera in North America.
And if the Neunelfer had been confined to the history books, the ever stronger demand for performance that developed throughout the 1980s would’ve probably determined the Germans to also put a Turbo label on the 928.
Sure, its N/A V8 evolved from a 4.5L making 219 hp to a 5.4L with 345 hp on tap throughout the generous lifespan of the GT (these are the American output figures), which was built through 1995. But the said competition between countries should’ve been enough of a reason to force-feed the extremely capable V8, with an output of up to, say, 500 horses sounding reasonable.
It’s not like Zuffenhausen didn’t experiment with the 928, though. For one, the vehicle even evolved into a long wheelbase model with two additional coach doors at the rear (the Study H50) that can be considered the ancestor of the Panamera.
This 3D work brings us Widowmaker 911 Turbo bits
Digital artist Abimelec Arellano (aka abimelecdesign) fully went with the said potential replacement tale when penning this 928 Turbo, which is part of his “What If” series done for American insurance specialist Hagerty.
As a result, this digital grand tourer borrows the said 930 Turbo’s legendary whale tale rear spoiler, which was based on the 911 Carrera RSR Porsche used in America’s infamous IROC (International Race of Champions) series back in the day.
And while the wing has lost the cooling function it served on the rear-engined Neunelfer, the factory widebody of the 930 Turbo serves exactly the same purpose, namely accomodating the wider wheels and tires.
With the Neunelfer “donor car” going down in history as the Widowmaker due to its vicious tail-out handling, we’d expect this fictional 928 Turbo to demand the same level of respect.
The aftermarket has already turbocharged 928s
As for the RPM (Real Project in the Making) Potential of the render, we’ll give it a 9/10. That’s because such projects have already been made in real life, albeit without the mean aero.
In fact, the video below shows the builder behind the “I Do Cars” YouTube channel restoring a 1986 Porsche 928 with a manual and a turbo kit—uploaded in July last year, this is the latest update on the project, which could return to the road by the end of 2022.
