A Porsche 911 Turbo SE owned by Judas Priest guitarist Glenn Tipton will head to auction next month.
The Chiffon White 1985 classic will be part of the Porsche Sale presented by Silverstone Auctions at the famous Silverstone Circuit on October 21 – and it’s estimated to go for between £180,000 - £220,000.
It’s the car that inspired Priest’s 1986 album Turbo and their track Turbo Lover – and despite Tipton picking up the car during a visit to the Porsche factory in 1985, the 930 series only has 14,100 miles on the clock.
Tipton explains: “We had a tour of the factory at Stuttgart and I was so impressed with the engineering and how meticulous they were when building cars, and I just had to have one.
“But I live out in the sticks, and it has to be nice weather to take the Porsche out, so I hardly ever use it. It’s time for it to go to someone who will get some use of it, but it’s going to be very hard to let it go.”
Reflecting on the band’s career in the 80s, Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford told Classic Rock in 2014: “Living through that decade, it was incredibly decadent. There was a lot of money flying around. It was a real pig-out in many ways, but what a great time.
“From 1980 right through to the grunge movement, all the Porsches, all the turbo engines, everything was larger-than-life.
“The band was incredibly successful and we had an enormous amount of wealth going around us. I remember that at the time of Turbo Lover, both Glenn and KK Downing were absolutely mad on Porsches.”
For more, visit the Silverstone Auction website.
