Porsche 917K: You Know You Want To

Well if everybody on PH was willing to chip in a few pounds...

There are certain cars in the history of sportscar and Le Mans racing that are fondly remembered as legends: the Ford GT40, the early Bentleys, the Jaguar D-Type and probably one of the 21st century Audis now too.

Undoubtedly too the Porsche 917 has to feature in the list. Remember the first victory of a 917 at Le Mans was in 1970, just after the GT40's final win. In its final evolution as a Can-Am car, the 917/30 was probably the most powerful sportscar racer ever. There were Longtails, Pink Pigs, 917Ks and an a place in sportscar history forever as one of the greats.

So when one comes up for sale on PH it's well worth talking about. As you can see it's perhaps as iconic as 917s get in terms of spec too, as a Gulf liveried short tail. And, well, there's quite a story behind this particular car.

The ad from Canepa Design will furnish you with full details, but essentially as an early car from 1969 this was the first 917 to complete a full race distance. Indeed 917-004 was driven to eighth place at the 1969 Nurburgring 1000KM by David Piper and Frank Gardner - a significant event in 917 history. But then in 1970, updated to 917K spec and being driven by Jo Siffert and Brian Redman, it was involved in a crash at Brands Hatch. With the need to get another race car ready chassis 004 was replaced by chassis 017; the chassis tag for 004 was welded onto 017 and the original crashed car - which would become 017 - was eventually repaired.

The 917 then spent 30 years in Australia, a brief period in the UK and then reached Canepa in 2011. Since then the aim has been to return it to the spec of that Brands Hatch race in 1970: it's up to 5.0-litres with a Crosthwaite & Gardner crank, new Mahle pistons and a rebuilt gearbox. Indeed Canepa says that a "cadre of specialty parts suppliers" have been used, which must be one of the nicest phrases ever used in a car advert. No expense or detail has been spared in bringing this 917 back to its best, the end result as stunning as that suggests.

Look at the spec, too: 630hp at 8,300rpm, 434lb ft at 6,500rpm, a four-speed manual and a dry weight of 800kg. Eight hundred kilos! This then begs the question of just what you would do with a Porsche 917K... As the sportscar world moves further and further away from this style of car, demand will surely only increase and the temptation would be to store it. But then this car has been in collections of one form or another since 1975; with the car's meticulous and time consuming restoration now complete, surely it would only be only to use it for competition?

Of course that's a dilemma that's only going to be faced by a very, very select few, but what an opportunity this presents for the extremely wealthy. With the car already in California it could easily be prepped for the Monterey auto week and a run out at Laguna Seca...

PORSCHE 917K
Price: POA
Why you should: That Porsche, that livery, that history
Why you shouldn't: Might be a tad pricey

See the original advert here, with the pics from this listing.