Porsche - Porsche 911 Carrera 3.0

Porsche 911 Carrera 3.0 (1976)

The Porsche 911 ‘Carrera 3.0’ has a very special place in the history of the Porsche 911, as it brought together elements from two of Porsche’s most legendary cars. It represented the latest incarnation of the Porsche Carrera, originally introduced to the 911 series as the classic 2.7 litre RS in late 1972, and the Carrera 3's 2993cc engine used the same die-cast aluminium crank-case as its faster cousin, the newly introduced Porsche 930 or ’911 Turbo’.

The Carrera 3.0 was sold between 1976-1977 and built between two other models in the 911 line up: the standard 911 and the 911/930 Turbo. During its short two year life span, only 3687 cars were built, a tiny amount compared to nearly 58,000 911 SCs and 76,500 Carrera 3.2 produced. Of these 2564 were coupes and only 1123 produced in Targa format. In the year 1976 a total of 1093 Carrera 3.0 Coupe were produced. Among these were 487 RHD en 606 LHD.

It was donned with the prestigious Porsche ‘Carrera’ label. Carrera is a trademarked name (Spanish for ‘Race’) exclusively used by Porsche for some of its models to honor the company’s success in the Carrera Panamericana.

The Carrera 3.0 engine was essentially the Phenomenal 911 Turbo’s 2994 cc engine minus the turbocharger. Built before the ’911 SC’ it has everything the SC has, and more. It’s a different drive with more power @200bhp; more torque @188 ft/lb @4200rpm and it was 10% lighter too. It has the 6 bolt flywheel and a crank from the legendary 73 Carrera RS. The 3.0 carrera would go on to be the basis for all future developed 911’s up to 1989 including the 911SC and 3.2 Carrera. Performance numbers for the Carrera 3.0 are astonishingly similar to those of the famed Carrera RS of the early 70?s and it’s the last time Porsche would use the Carrera name until the Mid 80?s.

Despite a reputation for being a ‘tamed-down’ version of the original 2.7RS and 2.7 Carreras, The Carrera 3 had almost identical 0-60 and 0-100mph performance figures but was endowed with so much extra torque that it could pull from 25 to 100mph in top gear over 3 seconds faster than either of its production predecessors.