The Porsche 924 Carrera GTS is an unusual car, as a thinly disguised Group 4 car it is a fun, fast and lightweight factory built car. Work began on Porsche's first ever front engined, water cooled car, the 924 in 1972. The idea to modify the 924 originated with the production of the Porsche 924 GT which was designed for Group 4 (modified production car) racing. In 1981 Porsche began building the GTS and the Mathews Collection car is number 17 of only 59 cars Porsche homologised for Le Mans 24 hour race. It is made ever scarcer by the fact this is one of only 15 of these cars that were fitted with 270 bhp engines. The factory Porsche 924s did well at Le Mans in 1981 and finished an extremely respectable seventh overall.

To make the necessary weight savings required for racing, Porsche had to make extensive modifications between the standard 924 and the GTS version. The front fenders and rear bumper extensions are formed from fiberglass. The wafer thin doors and hood are made from lightweight aluminum, in fact only the bare necessities - the sills and roof - are made from steel. Another pointer to the GTS's race pedigree is that it sits a lot closer to the ground than the standard car and the usual 924 retractable headlights are replaced with these slat shaped lights. Porsche also tried to save as much weight as possible in the cockpit. Obviously for safety reasons, the weight saving did not go as far as the seats which are huge, rally style. All the weight savings added to the power of the Porsche 4 cylinder turbo engine that gave almost double the power of the stock 924. The 2 litre SOHC four engine is fitted with an air to air intercooler and can produce 245 bhp at 6,250 rpm and 245 pounds-feet of torque at 3000 rpm. The power is controlled by a standard 924 5 speed manual gearbox but it is modified with a separate oil cooler and a 40% limited slip differential.