Porsche has never been afraid to produce rare models. We are talking about models with less than 10 produced, like 964 Turbo Cabriolet and 993 super speed. Among this rarity Is one a particular Porsche that is not a Porsche at all: the VW T3 B32. It doesn’t look like a Porsche, it’s not badged as a Porsche, but it certainly sounds like a Porsche.
In 1986, porsche protected two 959s in The Paris Dakar . Race driven by two teams: René Metge in partnership with Dominique Lemoyne in one, and Jacky Ickx with Claude Brasseur in another. And while these 959s designed to be off-road beasts, capable of handling Hardest rally in the world, they’re still fast. With a 400hp 2.8-liter flatbed engine, not a lot can keep up with them, including assistive vehicles. Porsche had a third 959 on hand, is considered to be used as a means of support, but the team need something bigger and faster.
What else? Porsche already has one VW T3 vans. Unfortunately, they are hilariously slow, and can’t keep up the pace-the paced nature of the race, like all races, Every minute counts. So, instead of looking for another vehicle or trying to do with what they had, Porsche engineers set out to do what any transmission would do and modified the T3 truck to work with their needs.
While the standard T3 is already available with a wide range of engines, from the 1.6-liter flat-four and the I4 to the 2.6-liter I5, all slow. So instead of modifying the existing engine, Porsche took the 288-hp flat-six from the 911 3.2 Carrera and dropped it into the engine bay. The engineers then combined that flat six with a Porsche transmission that sends power to the rear wheels. And since this aims to keep up with the rally race, engineers also gave The T3 has a unique suspension setup and bigger brakes. It is said to have a maximum speed of only 116 miles per hour, but in reality, it’s about 135 mph.
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While someone at a glance at a VW T3 B32 might not be able to tell it apart from a regular T3, Porsche has done a few things to differentiate it. There are larger 16-inch wheels with Fuchs rims, additional side vents for larger engine cooling, larger front and rear fenders and exhaust pipes.
Inside, there’s a full leather interior, Porsche badging on the steering wheel and sub-meters under the center console, behind the gearshift lever.
Although it is unknown if this was ever produced, it is believed that there are only seven T3 B32 examples have been made. Although it is not for sale publicly, some have gone to private hands, special customers with ties to Porsche. Some of these even have Porsche VINs. And some are available for discount.
The example you see above is a it’s listed for sale at a Porsche dealer: Porsche Centrum Gelderland. It is currently listed at €364,900, with current exchange rate to US dollars, that’s over $375,700. It needs a bit of restoration as there is some wear here and there, but other than that it looks great. Whopefully the years have given us SUVs and a Porsche sedan, we can never saw anything like a Porsche truck again.
