Porsche 935 Turbo

The Porsche 935 was the factory's Group 5 'Special Production' car, derived from the 911 Turbo and campaigned from 1976. The definitive 935/78 'Moby Dick' and the customer 935 K3 ran flat-six turbocharged engines making 700 horsepower and more in qualifying trim, with the famous slantnose front that deleted the 911's upright headlamps for aerodynamics. A K3 won Le Mans outright in 1979, an almost unrepeatable result for a production-derived car.

Jazz is the Autobots' cultural attache and special operations man, so a race car with a sound system was a natural fit. The cartoon gave him speakers, a flamethrower and a photon rifle out of the same body. The toy is more specific than most people notice: it is not a generic 935 but a copy of one particular Martini and Porsche-liveried car, right down to the number and sponsor placement.

That specificity is the interesting part. The 1984 Hasbro toy carried decals reading 'Martinii' with a deliberate extra letter, a nod-and-wink at the drinks brand rather than the car maker. By the 2000s reissues the same decals had become 'Agent Meister', a joke on Jazz's Japanese name. The car itself was never licensed at any point, and Porsche's later refusal to play means Jazz is the one core Autobot who has never had a Masterpiece figure.

Diaclone Car Robot No. 15 'Porsche 935 Turbo' (Takara, 1983), designed by Koujin Ohno, sold in white with a Diaclone driver. Hasbro's Jazz is a straight re-release in the same white with revised decals.

Fan lore about these vehicles is unusually unreliable. Where a popular claim does not survive checking, it is recorded here rather than repeated.

• Which specific real 935 the deco copies is stated confidently by collectors but not documented by Takara.