My good friend Richard is selling his Porsche 944 Turbo S Silver Rose. Manufactured in 1988, only seventy Silver Rose models came to the UK, and some specialists estimate that just a third of those still exist. This car has a huge spec, so difficult to get it all across in a simple classified ad.

“The Silver Rose brings all the best bits of the previous year’s 944 Turbo Cup cars together, making a finely balanced package,” says Richard. “There’s a unique Silver Rose exterior colour, and unique Burgundy Plaid interior trim with 8-way power seats. The cars have no sunroof, but do have A/C. Although my car’s A/C is currently removed, the wiring is all there and my specialist estimates six hours to replace.

“Front brakes are from the 928 S4: 300 x 32mm discs with bigger 4-piston Brembo calipers and ABS. Wheels are the lighter, wider forged alloy wheels: 7/9 x 16” sizes in the Club Sport design (not to be confused with the much heavier, later D90 design).

“The drivetrain has a bigger k26/8 turbo (also adopted on all later 250hp cars), LSD with 40% lockup, M030 suspension option, consisting of Koni adjustable shocks front and rear, with ride height adjusting threaded collars on the front struts, stiffer springs and torsion bars, larger hollow rear anti-roll bar, harder durometer suspension bushings throughout, larger 26.8mm hollow anti-roll at the front.

“It’s got chassis stiffening brackets in the front frame rails, factory rolled front and rear fender edges to accommodate larger wheels, the 5-speed manual transmission (case code designation: AOR) with a higher friction clutch disc setup, and an external transmission cooler.

“I bought my Silver Rose from one of the mechanics at JAZ Porsche in Wembley and it has been looked after by JAZ during my approx 2 years of ownership. As a Porsche mechanic’s car, it benefitted from engine, suspension and brake rebuilds. The spec includes a rebuilt k26/8 turbo, new Lindsey Racing dual-port wastegate, stage 2 intercooler and 3-inch exhaust, Bailey dump valve, new Siemens 55lb injectors, fuel pressure regulator and pressure gauge, Greddy electronic boost controller, head studs, head gasket etc.

“Maintenance on the car in my ownership has included recovering the driver’s seat bolsters, and I now have nearly three metres of the Burgundy plaid material that will come with the car. I was lucky to find this, as people are now asking silly money for it. I have enough to just about retrim the whole car if it’s needed in the future.

“It’s had two scheduled services completed at JAZ Porsche, with the most recent service this week. I’ve also had a rolling road ECU remap by Wayne Schofield: Wayne knows these cars inside out, having spent days mapping them for racing in the late 1980s.  The remap concentrated on drivability with the best torque curve, and resulted in over 300hp and 327lb/ft of torque (dyno graph available).

“It’s had the timing belts changed, an exhaust side engine mount replaced by JAZ in September 2012 and follow up inspection/adjustment in January 2013. I fitted a new front windscreen in 2012. It has new Bridgestone N-spec SO2s (245/225): less than 1,000 miles on the fronts and 3,000 miles on the rears.

“Body-wise, Nottingham Coachcraft in Caterham stripped, repaired and repainted the driver’s sill, all wheel arches and the rear of the driver’s front wing. It’s had new quarter window seals, new driver’s wiper control arm, new driver’s electric window motor, new temp sensor and other similar sundries. The wheels have been refurbished in Porsche Meteor Grey.

“I have a few spares like another intercooler, crossover pipe, D90 and CS wheels and two complete fog/side light units which can come with the car by negotiation.  MOT and tax run to the end of August 2013. It’s HPI clear with eight previous owners.  The car comes with limited service history as it was a mechanic’s car, but you can verify its bona fides with JAZ Porsche.

“There is a Momo steering wheel in the car, but the original wheel comes with it, as do the original amber indicators.  The car also has the OE 10-speaker stereo with an Alpine DVD/CD/touch screen head unit with ipod connection and there is Bluetooth for phones.”

I do love a good for sale ad, and this is a nice one to share. Richard’s got it up for £11,500, which sounds like all the money, but “regular” 944 Turbos have been known to sell for more and this is a very collectible Silver Rose model. The tuning is well thought out, so this is going to be a very capable car on road or track and a pretty good investment. I’ve definitely talked myself into this one – where’s that Barclaycard?!

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