Porsche’s Restoration Finals Pit a 4.0-Liter 993 Against a Rescued 930 Turbo
Nine dealer-restored Porsches are being judged in Georgia this weekend. The field is smaller than last year’s, and a third of it is water-cooled.
Porsche has named the nine dealer-built classics that will compete for its U.S. restoration title this weekend, and the list runs from a rust-rescued 1978 930 Turbo to a 993 rebuilt around a 4.0-liter engine. Judging takes place October 9–10 at Trilith Studios in Fayetteville, Georgia, with the cars on public display during Luftgekühlt at Town at Trilith.
The Porsche Classic Restoration Challenge, now in its sixth year, pits technicians at U.S. Porsche Centers against each other in three categories: Preservation, Restoration, and Individualization. The last is the dealer-level counterpart to the factory's own Sonderwunsch one-off builds. Three area winners per category advance, one each from the East, South/Central, and West regions.
The Individualization builds
Porsche Englewood's entry is a 1980 911 SC Targa the team calls “The Gentleman's Outlaw.” It started as a stock car and went through a nut-and-bolt rebuild, emerging in Oak Green Metallic with a reworked 3.0-liter engine, a rebuilt transmission with a limited-slip differential, and upgraded suspension and brakes.
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Porsche Orlando went further. Its 1997 911 Carrera 2 was stripped to a bare shell and rebuilt as an interpretation of the 993 RS, with a handcrafted interior and a 4.0-liter engine that Porsche says uses components from several of its platforms. The company hasn't published output figures for the engine.
Porsche Tucson built its 1973 914 as a tribute to one of its own. Master technician Jim Guthrie, who has nearly five decades of Porsche experience, led the dealership's challenge entries for six years. This time the team started with a gutted rolling chassis and built the car to his specification.
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Restoration and Preservation
The standout in Restoration is Harper Porsche's 1978 930 Turbo, an early special-order car in Paint to Sample Buick Medium Green over white leather and pinstripe velour. After years of sun damage in Florida it needed rust repair, a bare-metal repaint, and rebuilds of the engine, transmission, and turbocharger.
It faces a 1969 912 Soft Window Targa from Porsche Beachwood, a project that Porsche says helped raise tens of thousands of dollars for Alzheimer's research, and a 2003 911 Carrera 4S from Porsche San Francisco that was completed by two first-year technicians.
The Preservation finalists are a 2003 911 Carrera 4S that Porsche Mechanicsburg's customer drove daily for nearly two decades, a 2001 Boxster from Porsche Cary, and a 1996 911 Turbo that Gaudin Porsche of Las Vegas returned to factory specification after years of aftermarket modifications.
A smaller field, and a younger one
Porsche counted 60 entries this year, down from the record 73 that entered the 2025 competition. Two of last year's winners are back: Gaudin took Preservation with a 1988 944 Turbo S, and Harper won the People's Choice vote with a 1992 964 RS. The reigning Grand National Champion, Porsche Bend, isn't among the finalists.
The cars themselves are getting newer. Three of the nine finalists are water-cooled models from the early 2000s, a sign that the 996 and the first Boxster now count as classics in Porsche's own program. That matters more with the gas Boxster not coming back.
Category winners and the Grand National Champion will be announced at the awards banquet. Luftgekühlt visitors can also vote for a People's Choice Award.
