Porsche displayed a 1978 935/78 (also known as “Moby Dick”) during the first press day of this year’s Shanghai Motor Show. The 935 was prominently parked next to the new 911 GT3 RS and the sold-out 918 Spyder supercar.

Designed specifically to compete in the 1978 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Moby Dick was the ultimate evolution of the Porsche 935. Its turbocharged flat-six engine was pushed to about 750 horsepower, which was plenty in a car that tipped the scale at roughly 2,200 pounds. It gained a full body kit consisting of a front end that was longer, lower and wider than a standard 911’s, deep side skirts, air vents behind the front doors and a long, gently-sloping tail accented by a huge spoiler.

Assigned number 43, Moby Dick was plagued with mechanical problems early on in the race and it only managed to finish eighth, a disappointing result considering the effort that had gone into developing, building and fine-tuning the car.

We couldn’t walk on the Porsche stand because a television station was filming the 918 so we quickly took a few photos and walked off thinking we’d see the 935 again the following day. Much to our surprise, the 935 was replaced by a 919 Hybrid overnight so the shots below are the best we managed to snap.