Porsche 901 prototype I met..fuller info
08-20-2018, 04:40 PM
#1
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Thread Starter
Porsche 901 prototype I met..fuller info
I was showing a car at a Concours recently ( nothing exceptional). Next to my car was a brand new GT2RS, and beyond that a very plain and clearly early 911. There was something just a bit unusual about it, so I took the opportunity to have a close look before the show opened.
Unusual was a major understatement. This car was built in November 1963, when JFK was president of the US, and is the sole surviving prototype of the Porsche 901. As is well known, Porsche changed the the model to 911 early in production after about 60 cars. The car was primarily used to test various heating and airflow options ,many of which never made it into production. The car, being handbuilt is not perfectly square, and the fuel tank for instance was hand fabricated from 20 pieces. Very few of the panels are interchangeable with the production cars. When the owner need to replace a piece of glass it had to be custom fabricated.
Porsche generally had no interest in its own history and typically sold off any cars that were not scrapped. This car was sold to Richard von Frankenberg in 1965 ( he was editor of Christophorus magazine) and eventually ended up in a breaker's yard in the US., just another worn out old rattletrap. This was long before there was much interest in old Porsches.
By some miracle, the owner of the yard saw that this was a special car and put it up for sale. The current owner bought it from the yard in 19xx for the huge amount to $14,500 at the time. He told me that Porsche did not believe that this was the prototype, and there was extended discussion before they authenticated it. There is no doubt whatsoever it is the real thing.
Since the is overall a little different dimensionally it follows that not much is the same, but here are some of the more visible differences.
(1) The traditional 911 dash had not yet arrived- the two large dials are actually handprinted and the steering wheel if from a 356:
(2) General interior shot:
(3) The sunroof is an experimental hand-cranked mechanism that opens forward to protect headroom
(4) Exhaust position different, and the entire rear bumper is a single piece
(5) The car had side ventilation to defog side windows
I have seen a some exceptionally rare Porsches in my life , but this rates as one of the most special:
The oldest car with a 911 model designation is a 1964 owned by Jerry Seinfeld which I photographed a few years ago…plenty of detail differences with later models:
However, nothing compares much to the Typ 64 of 1939 which I had a chance to spend an afternoon with, originally a VW but reclassified by the family as a Porsche in 1946, thus predating the famed car #1. It is just stunning in the metal:
Unusual was a major understatement. This car was built in November 1963, when JFK was president of the US, and is the sole surviving prototype of the Porsche 901. As is well known, Porsche changed the the model to 911 early in production after about 60 cars. The car was primarily used to test various heating and airflow options ,many of which never made it into production. The car, being handbuilt is not perfectly square, and the fuel tank for instance was hand fabricated from 20 pieces. Very few of the panels are interchangeable with the production cars. When the owner need to replace a piece of glass it had to be custom fabricated.
Porsche generally had no interest in its own history and typically sold off any cars that were not scrapped. This car was sold to Richard von Frankenberg in 1965 ( he was editor of Christophorus magazine) and eventually ended up in a breaker's yard in the US., just another worn out old rattletrap. This was long before there was much interest in old Porsches.
By some miracle, the owner of the yard saw that this was a special car and put it up for sale. The current owner bought it from the yard in 19xx for the huge amount to $14,500 at the time. He told me that Porsche did not believe that this was the prototype, and there was extended discussion before they authenticated it. There is no doubt whatsoever it is the real thing.
Since the is overall a little different dimensionally it follows that not much is the same, but here are some of the more visible differences.
(1) The traditional 911 dash had not yet arrived- the two large dials are actually handprinted and the steering wheel if from a 356:
(2) General interior shot:
(3) The sunroof is an experimental hand-cranked mechanism that opens forward to protect headroom
(4) Exhaust position different, and the entire rear bumper is a single piece
(5) The car had side ventilation to defog side windows
I have seen a some exceptionally rare Porsches in my life , but this rates as one of the most special:
The oldest car with a 911 model designation is a 1964 owned by Jerry Seinfeld which I photographed a few years ago…plenty of detail differences with later models:
However, nothing compares much to the Typ 64 of 1939 which I had a chance to spend an afternoon with, originally a VW but reclassified by the family as a Porsche in 1946, thus predating the famed car #1. It is just stunning in the metal:
08-26-2018, 08:57 AM
#5
Thanks for sharing!
