The year was 1985 and the legendary heavy metal band, Judas Priest, were on tour in Germany. The band visited the Porsche factory in Stuttgart where the lead guitarist and songwriter Glenn Tipton was so enamoured by what he saw that when he got back to the UK, he decided to order one of Stuttgart’s treat for himself. His Porsche dealer, Swinford Motors of Stourbridge, pointed him to a 1985 911 Turbo SE from the 930 series of cars. This car would eventually be immortalized by the band in their 1986 hit single “Turbo Lover”. They would even name the album “Turbo”.

The 930 series Porsche 911 Turbo came with a turbocharged 3.3-litre six-cylinder air-cooled boxer engine good for 300 hp. This SE specification added vented rear-wheel arches, sill extensions, polished wheel rims, and special leather interior trim. The car had a 0 to 60 time of 5s and a top speed of 260 km/hr. Tipton’s car was finished in the in a bespoke ‘Chiffon White’ shade and came with a matching white leather interior. The Porsche 911 Turbo was one of the defining cars of the latter half of the 20th century and catapulted the 911 into supercar territory. It was also notoriously not kind to amateurs.











After being owned by Tipton for the last 30 years, this car is now up for sale. The Porsche 911 Turbo is in mint condition and only has about 14,100 miles on the clock. This unique car is being sold by Silverstone Auctions at their Porsche Sale set on October 21st at The Wing, Silverstone. The auctioneers expect Tipton’s car to sell for anywhere between £180,000 and £220,000, in our opinion a completely reasonable price to pay for a piece of automotive and music history.