2023 Porsche Classic Restoration Challenge – Intro

The United States is home to more classic Porsche sports cars worldwide, and every year, Porsche Classic holds the Porsche Classic Restoration Challenge. In this challenge, Porsche Classic encourages US Porsche Centers to acquire and fully restore a classic Porsche from top to bottom. And for 2023, we are proud to reveal that Autobahn Porsche is participating in the challenge by restoring this lovely 1978 Porsche 911SC Targa!

The 911SC has an extraordinary place in Porsche’s history. In the early 80s, the 911SC was supposed to be the last 911 to be ever made as the 928 and 924/944 were supposed to be the follow-up to the 911. But in 1981, Porsche brought in Peter W. Schutz to run the company, and as the legendary story goes, while in Helmuth Bott’s office(chief of engineering at that time), there was a line on the chart that illustrated the future timeline of Porsche where it showed that the 911 was ending in 1981. So Schutz picked up a marker and extended the line to the edge of the board, then to the wall, and finally out of the doorway, signaling that the 911 is forever.

This 1978 911SC Targa has around 119,000 miles and is equipped with an air-cooled 3-liter flat-6 engine making 180hp and 175 lb-ft of torque. It’s rear-engine and rear-wheel drive and is fitted with a 5-speed manual transmission. The exterior is in the gorgeous Guards Red and Cork leather interior. The restoration will be handled by Jeff Knoebel, our Porsche Master Technician and shop foreman with over 20+ years of experience.

The first step of our restoration is to document everything and figure out what needs to be done. And after that, we take everything out of the vehicle before sending it to the body shop to restore the body shell completely. Stay tuned for that update coming soon!