Meeting the only surviving prototype that led to the 911
Discussion
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.
Meet " Barbarossa" as it was called when an active prototype.:
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. This 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 needed 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 decades ago for the huge amount to $14,500 at the time. He told me that Porsche did not believe at first 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:
There are many other detail differences, the fuel filler flap is round instead of oval - a 911 fanatic could study this thing all day.
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:
Meet " Barbarossa" as it was called when an active prototype.:
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. This 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 needed 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 decades ago for the huge amount to $14,500 at the time. He told me that Porsche did not believe at first 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:
There are many other detail differences, the fuel filler flap is round instead of oval - a 911 fanatic could study this thing all day.
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:
RDMcG said:
Slippydiff said:
A very rare car in the third from last picture too 
Vector W8 as I recall...Jerry Weigert’s Vector W8. He/it was set to conquer the supercar world, but lacked the finance to do so. It was an amazing car, built using a host of aerospace components/suppliers in the US. 625hp from a twin turbo 6.0 V8 (and even more torque) it must have seemed like a spaceship back then.
Slippydiff said:
Spot on
Jerry Weigert’s Vector W8. He/it was set to conquer the supercar world, but lacked the finance to do so. It was an amazing car, built using a host of aerospace components/suppliers in the US. 625hp from a twin turbo 6.0 V8 (and even more torque) it must have seemed like a spaceship back then.
I believe that that issue was that they had targeted a price point of $100,000 at the time but the final price was over $400k. Big money now but astronomical then Jerry Weigert’s Vector W8. He/it was set to conquer the supercar world, but lacked the finance to do so. It was an amazing car, built using a host of aerospace components/suppliers in the US. 625hp from a twin turbo 6.0 V8 (and even more torque) it must have seemed like a spaceship back then.
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