1964 Porsche 904 Carrera GTS Coupe

Porsche introduced its 904 sport car racing coupe in 1963, and was a direct successor to their RS61, which itself has roots to the 718 'RSK' of 1957. The RSK was a further development of the original 550 and subsequent 550A.

The Porsche 550 utilized a space-frame design that would continue to be used through RS61 production. This meant they had large main frame rails of steel, which were attached to the front and rear suspension. An alloy body was comprised of some stressed but mostly un-stressed panels.

The all-new Carrera GTS had a central steel, 'back-bone' chassis with mid-engine placement. Both an outer and inner, rigid and fully bonded GRP body was then fastened for maximum rigidity.

The Carrera GTS was designed to compete in FIA's GT class. Client racing and street legal versions were introduced in 1964, in order to satisfy FIA Group 3 homologation regulations which stated 100 examples were required to be built.

Chassis number 906-002 is the second of Porsche's 904/6 factory team cars. They built a total of six similar 904/6 Works team cars (chassis numbers 001, 002, 005, 006, 011, and 012). All examples currently survive in varying states except for chassis number 906-005, which was destroyed during testing and development in 1965.

906-002 was a test and development car for 1963, 1964, and 1965. In December of 1954, it went through extensive testing program in Italy at Monza, where several Solex carburetor tests were conducted with Herbert Linge, alongside sister 904/6, chassis number 906-001, which was fitted with various Weber carburetor set-ups in comparison. Several different tire tests were also conducted and both 001 and 002.

As the close of the 1965 season, the car was offered by the Porsche factory for public sale. Michel Weber purchased the car on May 10th of 1966. It was raced in Germany, France, Italy, and Austria throughout the year's European Mountain (Hill Climb) Championship season. With Weber at the wheel, the car scored multiple podium finishes throughout the season, including two first place finishes.

At the close of the 1966 season, Weber loaned the car to the Swiss driving team of Ruedi Jauslin and Peter Ditzler for use by their team, Scuderia Basilea. The car was entered in several races in 1967 events but did not show up with the car until very late in the season. At the October 29th, 1967 running of the Three Hours of Hockenheim, the two finished Secon in Class. On December 10th of 1967, Ditzler drove the car himself in the Hockenheim Finale Race scoring a Third Overall.

Weber retired the car at the end of the 1967 season and put it up for sale. U.S. Air Force Major Berny Barns became the car's next caretaker. Harro Schneider of German purchased the car in 1970 and kept it until 1979, selling it to Lohr & Becker, also of Germany. Dr. Friedhelm Tang purchased the car in 1987 and kept it until 1999, when it was sold to Brazilian Lara Resende. Frederic de la Noce purchased it in 2002 and kept it until 2011.

In 2012, this car was offered for sale at RM Auctions Monterey, California sale. It was estimated to sell for $1,800,000 - $2,200,000. Bidding reached $1,575,000 but was not enough to satisfy the vehicle's reserve. It would leave the auction unsold.

By Daniel Vaughan | Nov 2012