1979 Porsche 911SC

The Porsche 911 was introduced to the public at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 1963 and served as a replacement for the 356. It made its debut in the United States for the 1965 model year. By the late 1970's Porsche AG was pondering the idea of whether or not to keep the 911 program going or replace it altogether with their new 928. A decision was made and the 911 program continued with Porsche introducing the 911SC. The SC designation, introduced in 1978, came from the 356SC and was powered by a 3.0-liter Bosch K-Jetronic and a 5-speed 915 transmission. There was no Carrera version of the 911SC. The 'SC' stands for 'Super Carrera.' Originally power output was 180 bhp, later 188 bhp and then in 1981, it was increased to 204 bhp. In 1981 a Cabriolet concept car was introduced at the Frankfurt Motor Show. The convertible body design also came with four-wheel drive, although this was dropped in the production version.

In 1982, Porsche introduced the first 911 Cabriolet version, as a 1983 model. This was Porsche's first cabriolet since the 356 of the mid-1960s. A total of 4,214 were sold in its introductory year, despite its premium price relative to the open-top Targa.

The 1979 Porsche 911SC was available as a coupe or Targa with 2+2 seating. Pricing began at just under $20,000. The horizontally opposed, overhead-cam six-cylinder air-cooled engine displaced 182.6 cubic inches and delivered 172 (SAE) horsepower. Standard equipment included heated mirrors and power brakes. 16-inch tires were available, as was the 'whale tail' rear spoiler, but the sportomatic semi-automatic transmission was no longer offered.

by Daniel Vaughan | Aug 2019