(1988) Porsche 944 Celebration Edition
By 1988 sales were falling dramatically, with the production down by nearly a third from 1987. So at the end of summer 1987, the “944 Special Edition 1988″ (M757) cars were made to celebrate 250,000th 911 produced! People say it was built to honor the 100,000th 944 made, but this milestone had passed at the end of 1986, so I guess it is up in the air as to what the actual celebration was.
The Special Edition cars were Zermatt Silver or Satin Black Metallic. The cars were equipped with commemorative plaque (2.5″/65 mm diameter) which could be personalized with the owner’s name. The cars had plaid cloth seats and door panels, new separately folding rear seat backrests, automatic heating control, 16” wheels and a few other options as standard.
These Celebration models – effectively standard cars brought up to a very high specification, featured black leatherette, the attractive grey or maroon “STUDIO” cloth and silver and grey carpeting. The new split rear seat backs were included, along with automatic heating control and removable electrically tilting sunroof. Wheels were the optional 7J front and 8J rear “telephone dials”, fitted with 205/55VR16 and 225/50VR16 tires respectively. Integral fog lamps were also fitted at the front. US models did not have the rear “944” logo found on the cars for other markets.
Featured Included
- Two different paintings were available: Zermatt Silver metallic and Satin Black metallic.
- Integral fog lamps at the front.
- Removable electrically tilting sunroof.
- Side strips between the wheels.
- Rear window wiper.
- Front wheels: 16″ 7J telephone dials with 205/55VR16
- Rear wheels: 16″ 8J telephone dials with 225/50VR16
- Black leatherette, grey/maroon ‘Studio’ cloth and silver grey carpeting.
- A plaque in the car.
- Split rear seats backs.
- Automatic heating control.
Production Breakdown
- Satin Black
- Factory order number: M757
- Produced between: 7/87 to 08/87
- Exterior Color: Satin Black
- Interior: Black, Studio
- Units
- 100 units for West Germany
- 250 units for United States
- 73 units for Rest of World
- Zermatt Silver
- Factory order number: M757
- Produced between: 7/87 to 09/87
- Exterior Color: Zermatt Silver
- Interior: Black, Studio
- Units
- 100 units for West Germany
- 250 units for United States
- 157 units for Rest of World
Total Production
- 930 units
- July 1987 to September 1987
Additional Notes
- Factory order number: M757
- Produced to celebrate the 100,000th Porsche 944 rolling off the Neckarsulm production line.
- Production of black version: 100 to West Germany, 250 to US, 73 to RoW.
- Production of silver version: 100 to West Germany, 250 to US, 157 to RoW.
- Approximately 30 cars ended up being imported to the UK.
- In US it was launched as the “944 Special Edition” celebrating the 250,000th Porsche 911 produced.
- Also called “944 Studio” and “944 (Silver) Anniversary”.
