Rare & Rad: Driving the Outrageous ‘Rinspeed’ Porsche 969
Magnus Walker takes one of the 12 ‘Rinspeed’ Porsche 969 cars ever made on a blast through the canyons of California.
This Rinspeed Porsche 969 is likely to be the most rad thing you see today. Or perhaps this year. Maybe even ever. Nothing says the 1980’s quite like a slantnose Porsche 930. But this Rinspeed modified Porsche 930 screams the 1980’s from the top of its turbocharged 3.3-litre lungs. On the outside you see the styling of a 930 mixed with a 944 and a dash of Ferrari Testarossa.
On the inside it is a mix of classic Porsche 911 and Knight Industries Two Thousand 1982 Pontiac Trans Am. You might love it. You might hate it. But you will almost certainly feel strongly one way or the other. For those that hate it, the good news is that you will likely never see one. Only twelve of these were ever built.
Despite the rarity the car recently sold at the Gooding & Company Pebble Beach auction in 2021 for $235,200. That is not really much more than you would expect to pay for a regular 911 Turbo from this era. And this car is about as far from regular as you can get.
At least in the looks department; even though it looks pretty wild, the mechanicals are basically stock 1984 Porsche 930. Same power, same 4-speed manual transmission, same brakes. But the car looks like nothing else on the road. It makes a regular slantnose car look positively pedestrian. Recently Magnus Walker got a turn behind the wheel and posted a video of the experience to his YouTube channel. It is an interesting look into the bizarre world of the Rinspeed Porsche 969.
Exterior Design
This car is really all about the design. If you wanted a 930 Turbo with souped up performance, this is not the car for you. This car is nothing special underneath. At least for those that don’t consider a 930 special already. But it is special everywhere else. In 1985 Rinspeed presented the 969 in Geneva. For those not familiar, Rinspeed is a Swiss automotive tuner.
Although in 2008 Mansory acquired the Rinspeed Porsche modification business. However, in 1985 Rinspeed decided to take a Porsche 930 and give it a slantnose with a front spoiler and popup headlights. From the side you can’t miss those very Tesrarossa-like side strakes. The entire rear section of the car was reshaped into a notchback design. That includes the taillights from a 944.
Step Inside
As wild as the exterior design is, it might be the interior that steals the show. Sure, there are the familiar and iconic 911 gauges. But there is a Pioneer stereo system that has a remote control integrated into the steering wheel.
There are Recaro sport seats that have more adjustment switches than you would expect to find on a nuclear submarine control panel. There is a strong Porsche/Pontiac mashup vibe going on here. And normally that would have Porsche fans running away in disgust. But in the Rinspeed 969 it just seems right.
Driving Experience
This car is not what you want as your partner for local track days. Not that it is bad per se, but the performance is what you would expect from a car built in this era. But this car doesn’t thrill with speed. It thrills with presence. There is enough speed and power to entertain you behind the wheel.
But it is everyone watching you drive this car down the road that are really getting the show. It is tough to imagine any car from this time period drawing more attention than this one. Most people, even die-hard Porsche fans may not even know that it ever existed.
Some may think someone just stuck on a bunch of parts from a couple of salvaged Porsche sports cars. And that is exactly what makes this car so cool. Or, so ridiculous depending on your perspective.
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