Das Flachbau Reborn

The Slant Nose Porsche Is as Cutting-edge Today as It Was 40 Years Ago. and This Car Is the Reason Why

I wasn’t even a twinkle in my daddy’s nutsack when the legendary Porsche 935 won Le Mans (it was in 1979, in case you were wondering). I do however understand the significance of its radical Flachbau, or ‘flat nose’, styling.

Initially conceived to exploit a loophole in the FIA regulations on headlight height and fender modifications, the 935 racecars were given bumper-mounted lights and vented wings to reduce drag and increase downforce. It worked rather nicely too, many a trophy was lifted and many a driver was immortalised in the history books. Ze Germans came, they saw and they conquered. And it was all down to a reasonably straightforward nose job.

What’s important here though, is that the Slant Nose Porsches (as we tend to call them here in the English-speaking world) quickly became creatures of myth and legend. To many purists they still stand for the ultimate in Stuttgart-derived design, desirability and, as if I need to say it, rarity.

The 935 racecars also spawned a couple of road-going special editions over the next decade or so. First in the 80s with the 930 Slant Nose, which many believe to be the definitive factory-modified Porker. Hand-crafted from standard 911s by engineers in Porsche’s Sonderwunschprogramm (Special Order Program), these came complete with road-legal, pop-up headlights and, at nearly twice the price of a regular 911, just 948 ever hit the streets. The last word in 1980s excess? It’s got to be up there.

The choice of Wall Street bankers and London stock market traders aside, there was also the version that everyone but the most dedicated Porsche geeks tend to forget, the 964 Flachbau. It’s a pretty understandable bout of amnesia though. Created to mark the end of the 964 production run in 1994, they only actually produced 76. So good luck ever seeing one on the road.