If you’re a Judas Priest audiophile and a Turbo Lover, then this just may be the one Porsche you have to own.
This 1985 Porsche 911 Turbo SE, owned by heavy metal guitar legend Glenn Tipton of Judas Priest, will be up at auction at Silverstone Auctions’ Porsche Sale at The Wing, Oct. 21, expected to fetch between £180,000 and £220,000 (about $300,700 to $367,500 Canadian).
Tipton has been the only owner of the one-off Chiffon White 930-series 911, picking it up from the Zuffenhausen facility in 1985, when the band was on tour in West Germany. Because of his touring schedule and the climate around his UK-home, he has only managed to put 14,100 miles (about 22,700 km) on the odometer in his three decades of ownership.
“We had a tour of the factory at Stuttgart and I was so impressed with the engineering and how meticulous they were when building cars, and I just had to have one,” recalls Tipton of his 1985 tour. “But I live out in the sticks, and it has to be nice weather to take the Porsche out, so I hardly ever use it. It’s time for it to go to someone who will get some use of it, but it’s going to be very hard to let it go.”
Featuring SE content such as extended sills, vented rear wheel arches and supple leather interior, the car was reportedly the inspiration behind the 1986 Priest hit Turbo Lover, co-written by Tipton, and Judas Priest lead vocalist Rob Halford and then guitarist K. K. Downing, as were all the songs on the album Turbo that featured the song.
“Living through (the 1980s), it was incredibly decadent,” Holford reminisced in a 2014 interview with Brit rock magazine Classic Rock. “The band was incredibly successful and we had an enormous amount of wealth going around us. I remember that at the time of Turbo Lover, both Glenn and K.K. Downing were absolutely mad on Porsches.”
The car draws 300 hp from its air-cooled 3.3-litre turbocharged horizontally-opposed (boxer) 6-cylinder engine, and has been meticulously maintained by Tipton, including sending it off to Porsche service specialists Two Plus Two (in Brierley Hill, West Midlands) for a final extensive service prior to sale.
“Cars with this unique history, single ownership, and known provenance, rarely come to market and this special car is a real opportunity for the enthusiast and collector alike,” said Nick Whale, managing director of Silverstone Auctions.
More details on Tipton’s 1985 Porsche 911 Turbo SE, and Silverstone Auctions’ Porsche Sale, which also includes a 1955 Porsche Chamonix 550 Spyder, 1962 Porsche 356B 'Super 90' Cabriolet and 2006 Porsche 911 (997) GT3 RS among the 59 cars to go under the hammer, can be obtained at https://www.silverstoneauctions.com/the-porsche-sale-2017/view_lots/pn/all.