A Rare Beauty.
by Pierre Martins
#107 of 123 of built.
My business partner, Charles, is the proud owner of this very rare '76 Carrera 2.7. This original '76 Carrera RS is perhaps the best example of this rare model in existence throughout the world today. VIN # - 911XXXX107 - Engine # - 666XX24 - Paint Code - 944/9/3.
Charles' Carrera RS has matching numbers, 3 owners since new and boasts a full service history. Everything checked out with the Porsche factory.
1976, bought by Klaus Hehner from Auto-Rossel GmbH. 500-1000km, 20k and 40k services by Auto-Rossel GmbH. 1986, sold to Tony Olivier in Pretoria. 60k service by Peco Porsche in Pretoria. 1996, sold to Charles. 80k service by M&R Motors in Johannesburg. The car now has a genuine 97000kms.
The history behind the ‘76 Carrera RS designation:
This is indeed a unique 911. There were 123 of these produced in '76. A few of these came to South Africa, but none survived to remain as pristine as Charles’ car. These cars were built as 'Carrera RS' and to differentiate them from the '76 Carrera 3.0, Porsche gave them a designation of '609' the same as the racing Carreras since 1974.
The story goes that in those years, the touring car racing in Europe (group 3), specified in its rules that the car must have the induction system of the series model sold that year. In '76 the Carrera 3.0 was introduced with the K-Jetronic fuel injection system, a system that is very limited in ways of tuning. The racers all started complaining that the 3 last years' efforts were lost, and the factory relented and produced these 123 cars with mechanical fuel injection - MFI - to satisfy the racers.
These cars were specified with non-tinted glass, left side mirror only, manual windows, no electric thermostatic heating, sport-seats, less soundproofing, welded in plates for a roll bar on the rear longitudinals, fat rimmed steering wheel, no headlight washers, Bilstein shocks, no sunroof, and no air conditioning.
Peculiarities on this car:
It seems odd that this car has a front spoiler but no rear wing. There are no emblems on the rear lid either. Porsche never supplied them like that.
It also has a sunroof and a special colour called ‘Platinum Metallic’. These were all special order options that were available at the time. Another oddity is the service book for instance - it's for a 3L Carrera. Porsche obviously didn't think it necessary to print service books for such a small production run!
Be that as it may, it’s been checked out and the factory confirmed the car is authentic.
The sad part?
Charles is a fly-boy, a pilot. He loves his planes and although he knows what he has in this car, it’s not important to him beyond the obvious value of the car and it’s for sale, for the right price of course.
Cheers,
Pierre.
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