Skip to main content

This Monegasque Maniac Makes The Monocles Drop in his Street-Legal Porsche 917K

It’s almost hard to believe given its motorsporting excellence but until 1970, Porsche hadn’t won an overall victory at Le Mans. Then came the 917.

Making somewhere in the neighborhood of 600 hp at the wheels thanks to a 4.9-liter flat 12 and tipping the scales at just 600 kg (~1,325 lbs), the 917 managed to hit that highest of automotive achievements: 1,000 hp per ton.

Looking at the 917 now, it’s hard to believe it ever actually existed, much less that racers drove it. Not only did racers drive it to victory, not only did it star in Le Mans, not only did it win twice at Le Mans, this one’s also street legal.

[See image gallery at www.vwvortex.com]

That’s right, if you happen to find yourself in Monaco this summer, you may well be greeted the roaring thunder of the most original 917 in existence.

Now, despite its liberal attitude towards taxes, Monaco takes car registrations pretty seriously, so it wasn’t exactly easy for its owner Claudio to get his Porsche on the road. In the best tradition of the exceedingly wealthy, though, a legal loophole allowed Claudio the register the 917.

Claudio, and indeed the rest of Monaco, has Count Rossi, to thank for getting this car on the road because according to local law, if a car has been registered for road use in the past, another identical car can be registered, too. Luckily for us all, the man who got Martini into the motorsport sponsorship game, also had a street legal 917 (chassis 030) in the ’70s. 

But Claudio had to prove that this 917 was identical to Count Rossi’s. That was no mean feat because this car, chassis 037, was never finished. It was an extra car that was eventually sold to Baur, a German coachbuilder.

After decades of disuse, chassis 037 was sold to a US collector who set about getting it ship shape. Fortunately, no one’s buying a 917 to hot rod it, so a healthy respect for its history was always a priority and Porsche was always aware of the chassis’ location.

That means that the car now is now made up of 95% original parts. Since all the other 917s were used for racing and modified through the years to keep them eligible or to repair damage, chassis 037 is the most original 917 out there.

Which, along with a mountain of paperwork, allowed Claudio to get his 917 registered for the road. Even in Monaco, not exactly known for the low quality of its cars, the 917 is a trump card that Claudio can play against the best super and hypercars the principality has to offer.

The post This Monegasque Maniac Makes The Monocles Drop in his Street-Legal Porsche 917K appeared first on VWVortex.



from VWVortex https://ift.tt/2H91IJJ
via IFTTT
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Saying Goodbye to the CC V6

For all its size and its global reach, Volkswagen is still, in many ways, a deeply human company. There was, for instance, the Bugatti Veyron an ego project if ever there was one. Then the purchase of Ducati, a move most called folly. And then there was the Phaeton, the Volkswagen that most folks can’t afford. Not only were these moves all strange, I’m sure that they made VW’s accountants furious. None of them made good business sense, but they were all deeply interesting and they all are evidence of the heart that beats at the center of VW. Among these follies is the CC, a car that everyone agrees is rakishly handsome, but that no one really wanted to buy. The car couldn’t last, but the world is brighter for its having been in it. With the approach debut of the Arteon, it seems like a good time to look back on its sadly departing predecessor. The version I drove, because I live in Canada, is a V6 Wolfsburg Edition, which apparently isn’t available in the States. Nor is the V6, not as...
Post a Comment
Read more

Mitsubishi admits it lied about MPG ratings for all vehicles in Japan

Filed under: Government/Legal , Green , Mitsubishi , Fuel Efficiency , Japan Mitsubishi says its shady fuel-economy test practices may have been used on all vehicles it sells and has sold in Japan. Continue reading Mitsubishi admits it lied about MPG ratings for all vehicles in Japan Mitsubishi admits it lied about MPG ratings for all vehicles in Japan originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 11 May 2016 12:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink  |  Email this  |  Comments from Autoblog Volkswagen http://ift.tt/21X3bHv
Post a Comment
Read more

More 3.0-Liter TDI Settlement Details Expected by January 31

Volkswagen and the TDI Plaintiff’s Steering Committee were in court today for another status conference following the agreement in principal reached earlier this week. Little new information was given at the conference held before Judge Charles Breyer today, but the court ordered the parties to develop a formal settlement agreement, class action notices, and a class notice plan by January 31, 2017. For now, though, owners still don’t know how much to expect in compensation. Elizabeth Cabraser, lead Counsel for the Plaintiff’s Steering Committee reaffirmed in a statement today that the compensation would be “substantial.” The potential cost to Volkswagen is widely reported to exceed $1 billion, though, with an additional $225 million going into an environmental trust to help offset excess emissions. Buy back offers are still only expected for the oldest 20,000 of the roughly 80,000 VW Group vehicles sold in America with the 3.0-liter TDI engine. Those vehicles are mostly SUVs, like ...
Post a Comment
Read more