[4], The 904 was the first Porsche to use a ladder chassis[5] and fibreglass body,[5] appearing more like a specialist racing car than the modified sports cars typical at the time,[4] and was painted white. Porsche produced one-hundred and six 904s at four or five a day[3] with a list price of US$7245 (FOB Stuttgart). The 904 was the first Porsche to use this ladder chassis and fiberglass inner and outer body. Designed by F.A. Toggle menu. [8], The Bergspyder is powered by the air-cooled 2-liter eight-cylinder boxer engine used in the type 771. Fiberglass replicas sell for $30,000 - $50,000 and they are fun cars, but they aren't quite the real deal. While many German race cars had used unpainted aluminium bodies since the famous "Silver Arrows" of the 1930s, most 904s were painted silver, the German National racing colors. Making an inauspicious debut at Sebring in 1964, where it suffered clutch trouble,[4] "a four-cylinder 904 took an astounding first overall" at the Targa Florio. SCM 1000; . Although such a request could be carried out by Porsche, these conversions were mainly done by independent garages and so the new engines were not only the 2-litre units, but later even up to 2.8-litre units that were originally made for the racing 911s. #9003270. There were several that were recycled in period and some rebuilt and issued same/old chassis numbers but today Porsche officially still sites a total of just 108 examples. Schroder into an entirely new approach. The 904 (as it soon became popularly known) was also the last full-competition Porsche that could be readily driven on the street. . Archival Photos Courtesy of Porsche AG. The 4-cylinder cars were shown chassis 904-002, 003 and 004 (002 and 003 being the prototypes). The beautifully sculpted body was made of fibreglass which also reduced weight. 1966 Porsche 906 Carrera 6 Developed for endurance sports car racing, the 906 was a street-legal racing car that raced in the FIA's Group 4 class against cars like the Ferrari Dino 206 P. They often won their class behind the much larger prototypes such as the Ford GT40 Mk II and Ferrari 330 P3/4. First and foremost, Porsche built the 904 for racing it had a mid-mounted engine that churned out an impressive-for-the-time 180 horsepower, according to Gooding & Company. For the European Hill Climb Championship in 1965, Porsche developed a successor to the 1964 Porsche 718 RS 61 Spyder. You've successfully subscribed to Motorious. Despite the very small engines, Porsche had scored 4th overall in 1955 with the 1.5-litre 550 and 3rd in 1958 with the 1.6-litre 718. . More than 40 years later the Carrera GTS still looks contemporary to the latest Ferraris, Maseratis, and Lamborghinis. Tomala though, opted for a chassis comprising a pair of steel . Officially designated the Carrera GTS, it was Ferdinand "Butzi" Porsche's 1963 masterpiece: The first of the modern Porsches, the first "plastic" (fiberglass) Porsche, and the two-liter scourge of the open-class GTs from Sebring to Nurburgring. Although called the Rallye Automobile Monte-Carlo, it really was a rallye to Monte Carlo as the start was given from different locations around Europe (until 1972 the event was held on public roads and was more about durability than speed). Powered by Gasoline and Caffeine. Although officially called Carrera GTS, it opened a new chapter in Porsche's sporting history under the internal designation 904 (Porsche will be forced to call only GTS since Peugeot had already filed the designations with 0 central). Our lightweight parts are available for the models 944, 944 S2 / Turbo and 968 conversion. Ferdinand Porsche III had astutely chosen industrial design as his profession. Porsche had designed the 1965 Porsche 904 Carrera GTS variant to compete in the FIA-GT class at various international racing events and the street-legal version debuted in 1964 to comply with those FIA Group 3 homologation regulations. Speedway Standard 1923 Model T Roadster T-Bucket Fiberglass Body. Try the factory parts diagrams! If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. This reproduction of the 904 was crafted in England by Martin & Walker in 2003, to the exacting standard of the original Porsche design. The original engine is believed to still be in existence, although nobody seems to know where its located at this point. It is soimportantto create such products with all perspectives in mind. Ferinand Alexander Porsche III . Attempting to connect. His work produced a body which had a drag coefficient of .33 Cd. Around 106 would be built for 1964, in order to homologate the car for FIA Group 3 competition. Antonio Pucci/Colin Davis in a 4-cylinder 904-005 took the overall victory and were followed by Gianni Balzarini/Herbert Linge in a 4-cylinder 904-006. Butzi was on such a short timetable that there wasn't time to run the design through a long approval process, and thus the final product was almost identical to the prototype. In August 1963, the first prototype was tested. We want to protect your passion! Full Access to Featured Content. Good luck! Butzi recalled that the first use of plastics was to mold racecar seats to fit individual drivers. The Porsche 904 had additional structural rigidity from its bonded-on fiberglass bodywork, the new 906 featured a modern multi-tubular spaceframe chassis, with an unstressed fibreglass body. The 904 would then go on to take a slew of class wins and high placements at races from the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Nrburgring 1,000kms, the Reims 12 Hours, and the Monte Carlo Rally to name but a few. new . The very same car, chassis 904-006, also had scored 2nd on the 1964 Targa Florio. Your bid of $ is $ more that the current high bid of $. [14] The engine delivered up to 191kW (260hp) at 8,800 rpm and had a compression ratio of 10.5: 1. ( Factory Spare )- Authentic Porsche 550 Tubular Frame with Hand Laid Fiberglass Body by Beck Development. Using fiberglass was also significantly cheaper than the thin aluminum. Beck Bodies made in Upland CA are much stronger and MUCH lighter the later sprayed bodies in Brazil.- Clear Massachusetts Title. Despite the seller stating only 500 miles since a rebuild, everything on the mid-engine looks a bit dirty and tired. It was powered not by their new flat-six but by the tried and tested four-cam flat-four, and it was built with a fiberglass body bonded to a steel ladder chassis. Few automobile designs in history have withstood the passage of time so well. Gerhard Koch/Ben Pon won the 2-litre GT class with chassis 904-055 and were 3rd overall after larger-engined Ferraris. This worried Porsche since never before had the factory sold more than 35 or so of any single race car. Required fields are marked *. It was the automaker's first use of a fiberglass body. [7] In addition, it won rally events including the Tulip, Munich-Vienna-Budapest, Geneva, and "highly acclaimed" Alpine Rally. . Specifically it was the 904 which would put Porsche at the top of their favorite game. The homologation rules stipulated a minimum of 100 units and as there werent that many potential racing customers, the solution was a street legal car. Porsche 914-6 Gt Fiberglass Fender Flare, Set Of Four; 914 1970-76 . Previously, seats had been pounded out of sheet metal. Compare | Search; Gift Certificates; Sign in or Register; Cart 0. After abandoning Grand Prix Racing in 1962, development was focused on sports car racing. The 904 was the firm's first attempt at using a ladder frame with a glued-on fiberglass body. A three-spoke MOMO steering wheel is mounted to a quick-release hub and frames green-letter VDO instrumentation, including a 7k-rpm tachometer and 120-mph speedometer, as well as a modified combination gauge for oil temperature, oil pressure, and fuel level. The Porsche 904 GTS was unveiled in 1963 as the German companys primary sports racing car. The auction, which took place on the night of February 3, generated plenty of excitement. They were also easily able to reach a top speed of 160 mph. 1964 Porsche 904 Carrera GTS As defined by the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), a GT car is a 'vehicle built in small series for customers who are looking for better performance and are not particularly concerned about economy'. Reconnected! Porsche 944 Wide Body Fenders Part# 202. Quick view. One of the first deliveries was to Stirling Moss. Interior noise was deafening, the insulation from engine heat bearable, but comfortable would not be an apt description of the 904. [5] It drove a five-speed transmission with a standard 4.428:1 final drive, with available 4.605, 4.260, 3.636, and 3.362 ratios. Future plastic-bodied cars, beyond the 904, would soon become to advanced and expensive to sell as a production vehicles. In the beginning, the Porsche 904 was known as Porsche Carrera, but later it was renamed as Porsche 904. . Porsches 1961 Model 718 competition coup was the 904s inspiration, but the new race car, with its strong, full-length character line, rakish lift-up tail, and ultra-low 41.9-inch height, was much better looking. [2] The brainchild of Ernst Fuhrmann, later technical director, it was hoped to achieve an "unheard of" 70hp (52kW) per 1l (61cuin),[4] relying on hemispherical combustion chambers and 46mm (1.8in)-throat 46IDA2 two-choke[6] Weber carburetors to generate 112hp (84kW) from the 1,500cc (92cuin) four-cam engine. For obvious reasons it was nicknamed the, Legendary American racing driver Bob Bondurants name will be forever linked with the Ford GT40, a car he drove at the 24 Hours of, The traditional Silodrome was a carnival sideshow attraction also called the Wall of Death." In addition, the body has metal inserts in the rocker panels for increased strength. Shortly thereafter the car was sold to Steve Berg and promptly put to work, racing at circuits like Riverside, Laguna Seca, Willow Springs, and the Santa Barbara Road Races. Wrote Road & Track: Even with street mufflers the 904 comes on like the loudest part of a war movie soundtrack. Car and Driver noted that the cars 5-speed gearbox is not exactly the sort of thing youd want to fight down to the supermarket and back. Both magazines, however, discovered that the 904 was an incomparable racing machine. Colin Chapman's revolutionary Lotus Elite, with its fiberglass body/chassis, had demonstrated the potential of composite materials for structural use in cars, and this technology was embraced in the design of Porsche's new mid-engined GT racer, the Type 904. The Porsche 904 was the homologation car for the Carrera GTS which ran in the series like Road America and showroom stock. The 904 started a trend which would motivate Porsche to manufacture sports prototype cars. While the design is derived from a couple of predecessor companies, he has incorporated some new features into the chassis. Porsche released the 904 in 1963 as a purpose-built race car with road-going versions built to satisfy the FIA's homologation requirements. Such restrictions lead Porsche, with chassis designer Ing. [4] Free shipping for many products! The chassis of the 904 was built of pressed steel sections. A few six-cylinder 906 cars were built for the 1965 racing season and they had many differences compared to the predecessors: centered fuel filler, side windows that moved vertically (like on regular cars), a bit smaller doors (third door size), elephant ear large air intakes, different engine cover etc. We provide you bumpers, valances, spoiler lips, rear spoilers and rear wings. Fiberglass was easier. This one is powered by a Porsche 911 2.0L engine from a '69 model, and it's listed here on craigslist for $34,000. Ladder Frame with a glued-on fiberglass body be an apt description of the first deliveries was to mold racecar to. Cart 0 ; 914 1970-76 Linge in a 4-cylinder 904-006, rear spoilers and rear wings industrial! If possible, verify the text with references provided in the series like Road and... 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