F1 ace paints F1-powered Porsche

The Porsche 930 TAG Turbo special painted by Stefan Johannson

This is no ordinary Porsche. It’s no ordinary resto-mod. And it’s no ordinary ‘art car’.

This one-off creation has been assembled by specialist builder Lanzante and recently sold through American luxury dealer O’Gara Coach, but it’s got two key elements from Formula 1’s wild 1980s turbo era.

For starters there’s the unmissable paint job, which was hand-crafted by Stefan Johannson, the Swede who started 79 grand prix for the likes of Ferrari, Tyrrell, Ligier and Footwork between 1980 and ‘91. In addition to a successful tenure in CART and sports cars (winning Le Mans in 1997), in recent years he has split his time managing several current drivers (including Scott Dixon and Felix Rosenqvist) and working as an artist.

Stefan Johannson in his F1 days with McLaren

Then there’s what powers this 1987 Porsche 930-generation 911, that would be one of the 1.5-litre V6 twin-turbo engines built by Porsche and labelled a TAG that powered Johannson’s 1987 McLaren F1 machine. This was during the high-horsepower days as turbocharged engines ruled the sport and McLaren was able to get its sponsor, TAG, to fund these Porsche-built engines.

So this car is known officially as the 930 TAG Turbo SJ87 in tribute to Johannson’s season powered by the TAG/Porsche engine as teammate to Alain Prost.

Johannson has been painting since his racing days, but these days does it at a professional level, selling artworks from his studio. The colours used on the SJ87 are designed to connect with his helmet design, which famously featured three leaves in three different shades of green, while the red and white comes from McLaren’s iconic Marlboro livery of the era.