Turquoise 996 In Porsche Museum Might Be the Safest 911 Ever Built
While it may look like an ordinary 996, this particular Carrerra has a shocking secret. It’s bulletproof, and it’s the only one Porsche ever built.
Tucked in the Porsche museum is this beautiful example of a Dragonfly Turquoise pre-facelift 996 Porsche 911. This Carrera wouldn’t exactly pull your attention from a curbside if you saw it in public. However, that is exactly the point. You aren’t supposed to know its hidden talent just by seeing it because this 996 differs from every 911 built-in Porsche history for one reason. It’s bulletproof. Lean in a bit closer, and you’ll notice it’s got an extra thick glass, no sunroof, and a particularly saggy rear-end.
That’s right! This is an armored Porsche 911, and it came that way from the factory. Lee Sibley, better known by his youtube alias That Nine Eleven Guy, takes us on a tour of this incredibly unique car in a recent video.
What’s the need for a bulletproof 911?
Armored vehicles that look virtually identical to their normal street-going counterparts are not a new concept. Additionally, Mercedes and BMW still offer attack-ready vehicles to this day. However, this 996’s existence has not led us to a line of Porsche equivalents to those armored vehicles. So, why does it exist? Luckily, Sibley has an answer.
“The story goes that Porsche was approached by a customer who showed an interest in a bulletproof vehicle. Obviously, the company is not forthcoming in giving away the identity of said customer, but with the 996 offering such a radical change from the air-cooled 911s before it, part of me wonders if it was perhaps a high-ranking Porsche board member fearful of a 911 purist lynch mob, I digress,” says Sibley.
What exactly makes it bulletproof? First and foremost is the reinforced glass all-around that measures over three-quarters of an inch thick. As if the beefy glass isn’t quite enough, should the car get shot anywhere else, you need not worry. That’s because the body panels are lined with Dyneema, a composite material that is 15x stronger than steel at the same weight. This allowed Porsche to bulletproof the bodywork without adding the massive weight of steel plates behind every panel. It’s pretty trick stuff!
Added security comes at a cost.
While Porsche says they have successfully tested the bulletproof 996 with both 9mm and .44 magnum rounds, there is an obvious drawback. All the extra materials add up to extra weight. This, we can safely assume, is why you don’t see a lot of armored sports cars. How much weight does it add, though? A standard 996 911 weighs in and just under 3,000 pounds. This one, however, is a bit more extreme. Way more extreme, in fact. It weighs 6,000 pounds. That’s right! This 996 weighs in nearly 1,000 pounds heavier than a Cayenne! Surely, that makes its standard M96 3.4-liter flat-six engine struggle a bit compared to a standard 911. When you build an armored car, you’re going to have to make compromises somewhere!
While this is the first and likely last of its kind, it is pretty awesome to see what Porsche is capable of when faced with a challenge. Overall, the bulletproof 911 probably wouldn’t make any sort of sales records. However, it does make for a pretty spectacular story. We’d love to see it in person sometime!