Porsche 962-106B’s Years-long Build Summed in 25 Minutes! (Video)
Vital piece of auto history comes together in awesome time-lapse clip.
Barn finds are all the rage these days, and many of us have our own tales of dragging an old dusty car out of hibernation. But it’s safe to say that this particular score might be one of the greatest finds in history. It all began when not one but two Porsche 962s surfaced at the 2011 Bonhams Monterey auction. Both caught the eye of longtime Porsche enthusiast Wayne R. Dempsey. And his involvement eventually led to the painstaking restoration of the car you see here: a Porsche 962-106B.
The two cars looked almost identical, and after months of digging, Dempsey couldn’t figure out the exact history of either. But neither met reserve and he continued his research. He eventually discovered that both had quite an interesting past. The original car, known as the German chassis, was campaigned in German races using the Liqui-Moly livery you see here. The same car also donned Rothmans duds at Kyalami.
The Porsche racked up three wins in the 1987 racing season before it was shipped to Japan for use by the TRUST team. It was there that the car became severely damaged in 1988 and a new RLR chassis replaced the original. Then, the car received a partial restoration over the course of a few years before, in 2012, team owner Jun Harada sold the Porsche to Dempsey, founder of the auto parts company Pelican Parts. It was then that Dempsey commissioned Trevor Crisp of Katana LTD to complete a full, proper restoration on the car.
As for the other Porsche 962-106B? It went on to enjoy considerable racing success before receiving its own restoration by Ben Kirchner at Retro Sport. The fact that both of these pieces of Porsche history survived racing carnage and the unforgiving effects of time is, quite simply, amazing.
We highly recommend reading the car’s entire backstory here. If you want more, Dempsey also uploaded nearly 600 pictures of the project here. It’s truly the definition of a passion project. And we’re glad that enthusiasts like Dempsey are around to help preserve cars that might otherwise remain lost forever.
