The Beast And The Paper Tiger: Two Cars Get The Body and Tuner Treatment In 1986, One Is Truly Awesome


The Beast And The Paper Tiger: Two Cars Get The Body and Tuner Treatment In 1986, One Is Truly Awesome

The one crummy thing about today’s automotive landscape is that there’s little “wow” factory left for us. That’s not me being jaded, that is me being real right now. Back in 1986 stuff was better in this regard. Why? Because a company could make a 450hp version of an already awesome car and blow the enthusiast market away. Today if you make a 450hp version of a car they call it bone stock. What’s radical anymore? Where’s the car with the bad manners that wants to try and take you out at every corner and gives you a feeling of satisfaction and life when you don’t let it?

Today’s hyper cars, today’s 1,000hp out of every engine, today’s 250mph in the half mile, street legal ultra exotics just kind of have it all figured out. If you want to make a splash today you need to drop some zillion dollar car with an atom smasher for power and all kinds of weird accoutrements.

Back in 1986 you could buy a Porsche and then send it to DP Motorsports in Germany for them to apply a killer body kit that made it look like a 935 racer and they could also hot rod the engine to make 450hp, which was mind boggling at the time. This was a 12-second quarter mile time when normal stuff ran 19s and performance cars could crack the 16s. It was brutal, it was dangerous, and it was freaking fantastic.

That car rules.

The second car shown in this clip, which follows the car that rules…does not rule. It’s a Ford Thunderbird that is given kind of the same treatment but way, way more lame. You be the judge.

Press play below to see this 1986 Porsche DP 935 in action –


  • Share This
  • Pinterest
  • 0