Month: January 2010

Ok. Ok. Wipe the drool off your keyboard.

I know she’s a beauty. The 908 Spyders seem to have the iconic Targa Florio glory, but this coupé example, in her original factory orange & white Shell sponsored livery, proves that the hardtop can look every bit as good as Number 12. Well… almost, anyway.

This example, chassis 908.018, has a short but successful racing history at the hands of Hans Herrmann and Kurt Ahrens. She debuted at the ’68 Austrian Grand Prix at Zeltweg, where she qualified 3rd and finished 2nd behind Siffert’s 908 sister car. This World Championship event was 908.018’s only major event attended for the car. I guess Porsche was at a place where they didn’t think a 1st and 2nd finish in a debut race was good enough anymore and set about re-bodying the 908. Of course, the various body configurations of the 908 would be strong finishers for quite some time, the long-tailed version nearly winning the 24 Hours of LeMans in 1969. It wasn’t until well into the 917’s development that the drivers were willing to abandon the reliable 908 for the terrifying 917.

After the factory stopped running 908.018, the car was entered, but didn’t run in the 1973 LeMans by Reinhold Jöst, Mario Casoni, and Paul Blancpain. The car then fell out of competition and into museum display. She re-emerged in the 90s, and with a freshen up from the Porsche factory in 1994, the car looks ready to compete.

Amazingly, the car is offered with British road registration and can legally be used on the road! Not that I’d trust my €1.1Million car to the hopped-up Civic pulling up behind me at a stop light.

More at seller Kidston’s detail page and pdf catalog.