Raise Your Hand If You’ve Heard of a 911 HLS

Okay smarty-pants Rennlisters, raise your hand if you’ve heard of the one and only 911 HLS.

I figured I’d see a lot of hands go up around here. But CarBuzz probably wasn’t thinking of Porschephiles as astute as you when they wrote this recent headline: “The Porsche 911 HLS: We’re Willing To Bet You’ve Never Of It.” So feel free to collect from them.

For those of us who may need a refresher course though, the article explains that the 911 HLS was an old, mid ’60s 911 modded into a racer with a “fully-retractable roof.” Sounds intriguing, no?

Well, have a look at these pics (there’s more over at CarBuzz) and you’ll be even more intrigued. It looks like this thing is fully equipped for timely ejections. Of course, who didn’t need that feature back in the ’60s?

This one-off came about when Porsche gave a 1964 911 to the University of Aachen’s engineering department with the task of transforming it into a racing coupe with a “folding roof.” So they constructed a new, mostly aluminium body, rollover bar, a striped down interior, and that striking canopy. The whole thing kind of looks like the green-haired stepchild of an early 911 and a 904 racer from that era.

Porsche never did anything more with the car. In fact, they didn’t even feel the need to garage the thing, as it sat outside for the last 40-plus years. But now, fortunately, 911 expert Manfred Hering is giving this thing a proper restoration.

Let’s just hope he adds ejection seats.

Chime in with your thoughts on the forum. >>

Via [CarBuzz]