For Sale: Factory 1978 Porsche 935
Images: RMD
One of the most awe-inspiring machines of sportscar racing in the late ’70s, Porsche’s 935 was also one of the most popular. Still just as, or even more, awe-inspiring, we so no reason for this classic to be any less popular today!
This one, a factory 1978 Porsche 935, is up for sale at RMD.
This car is chassis 930 890 0016, and was originally sold to Reinhold Joest.
Joest campaigned it in the World Championship for Makes and the German DRM (Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft) series in 1978. During the year it made at an appearance at the 24 Hours of Le Mans sponsored by the Whittington Brothers, but didn’t finish.
An accident at Hockenheim at the end of 1978 saw Joest end up in the hospital and the car damaged, but not written off.
The shell remained, but its parts were moved to a new Joest shell – 009-0001J. In 1979 the original shell, 890 0016, was repaired and used by Volkery Merl again in the DRM series. When these duties were completed the parts were once again stripped from 890-0016 and both shell and bodywork were sold to John Lagodny.
It was then built up again, using parts from Lagodny’s ex-Kremer 935. Lagodny raced the car in Benelux championship races and on the European hillclimb scene through to 1981 and was extremely successful.
The pair not only raced prodigiously, but won with similar vigour. They claimed some ten outright victories, mostly in 1980 and 1981, along with plenty of class victories and podiums.
In ’82 the car was sold to Jurgen Kannacher, who had owned it briefly before Lagodny. He organised Henz-Jurgen Dahmen for driving duties in a series of DRM races, achieving a best result of 7th at the Nurburgring in 1982.
It was then sold to Bo Strandell, for whom Anders Olofsson raced it once in 1983 at Falkenberg in the Swedish GT Championship and finished third.
After a brief stint in a Swedish museum it was bought in 1984 by John Greasley. Greasley painted it in an orange Jagermeister livery and hired the car out to Porsche Club drivers who were contesting the Pirelli Championship. This period saw it tackle classic British tracks like Mallory Park, Oulton Park, Silverstone, Donington, Brands Hatch and Snetterton.
It moved on once again in 2005, this time to Michael Foveny in Australia, who fully restored it and gave it to Roitmayer GmbH to race prepare it.
It’s currently running a freshly-rebuilt water-to-air twin-turbo motor and is wearing its 1978 24 Hours of Le Mans Liqui-Moly livery. It’s been racing in the Classic Endurance Racing series since 2009 and has run at Silverstone, Spa, Monza, in the Le Mans Classic, at Paul Ricard and at the Nurburgring.
After an adventurous life of near-incessant racing this Porsche 935 is just as awe-inspiring as the day it rolled onto the track for the first time. It’s correct and ready for the track, including current FIA HTP papers and even its original Wagenpass.
Head to RMD’s website here for more information.
Images via RMD.
