This very well-documented example of the Porsche 906 — more familiarly known in period as the Carrera 6 — was supplied by Porsche Kundensport to the marque’s contemporary Australian importer, Alan Hamilton. In essence two cars emerged, both using the chassis identity 906 007. One is the entirely distinctive lightweight Spyder-bodied car nicknamed “Känguruh,” which ran so strongly with the flat-8 cylinder engine installed in the 1967 Targa Florio. The other is this now-standard Carrera 6 coupe-bodied machine offered here. Porsche’s former competition department director and Le Mans-winning racing driver Jürgen Barth has confirmed the derivation of this duality in his definitive book, Porsche 906.
In its early service, the tall Alan Hamilton had the roof removed to enable him to fit comfortably into this 2-liter, flat 6-cylinder road racing car. He promptly won a 1967 Australian Championship with this car, before selling it — still in Spyder form — at the end of that year to Richard Wong Wei Hong in Singapore. Hong campaigned the car widely in a series of events, which is very well-documented in the files accompanying this car, before selling it to the renowned Macau-based motor racing enthusiast, entrant and entrepreneur Teddy Yip.
The car continued to be campaigned over a considerable period under Yip’s auspices and remained stored in Macau until as recently as 2000, when it was imported into the U.K. It was cleared for importation to a Dr. Henry Lee of London, and in 2001 it passed to celebrated historic car dealer/racer David Clark.
The comprehensive documentation file includes a letter from Jürgen Barth to MEC-auto dating from the time the last owner purchased the car; copies of numerous old race programs mentioning entries by Wong and Yip, and — of course — various restoration invoices.
Other valuable items included in this sale are the original Macau-period Spyder body, still bearing Teddy Yip’s famous Theodore Racing logos — and numerous original parts, including a 901-series engine block, a quantity of twin-plug heads, fuel tanks, suspension parts and drive shafts. This 906 is one of only 66 such machines Porsche produced. It is offered here in restored condition and is described by the vendor to be ready to compete in historic events such as the Le Mans Classic or the Rennsport Reunion at Laguna Seca.
SCM Analysis
Detailing
| Vehicle: | 1966 Porsche Carrera Coupe |
| Years Produced: | 1966 |
| Number Produced: | 65 |
| Original List Price: | $11,500 |
| Tune Up Cost: | $1,200 |
| Chassis Number Location: | Top of frame tube right side of engine bay |
| Club Info: | Porsche Club of America |
| Website: | http://www.pca.org |
This car, Lot 24, sold for $898,000, including buyer’s premium, at Bonhams’ Quail Lodge auction on August 20, 2011.
In the spring of 1965, everything was looking great for Porsche. Their 904 racer had proven to be a great success and completely dominated the 2-liter classes for the 1964 season. Porsche had every expectation that it would continue to be the car to beat. Sales for the 904 had been strong, with the original 100-car production sold and suspension subassemblies and wheels ordered for an anticipated second 100-car run.
It was a happy and confident time in Zuffenhausen. Then Ferrari came along with the 206 Dino. Admittedly, it was a prototype with no production or homologation pretensions, but it was stealing Porsche’s thunder, particularly in the European Hillclimb Championship. Something had to be done — and quickly. The immediate response was to install 6-cylinder and the GP 8-cylinder engines into 904 chassis, but it wasn’t enough to stay competitive, as an entirely new car was needed.
Fast-paced development
Ferdinand Piëch had studied aeronautical engineering before joining the family business in 1963, and he was closely involved with the development of the 911 six and the preparation of the 6-cylinder 904s. Although very young, he became the wunderkind of the racing side of the business, and the task fell to him.
In late July, it was decided that an entirely new approach was required, something much lower and lighter than the 904. The problem was that it needed to be ready for the Ollon-Villars Hillclimb on August 25 (and win) if Porsche was to have a chance to retain the championship. The racing department forgot about the traditional August break and worked straight through to get it done.
The folded-steel ladder with stressed fiberglass body approach of the 904 was abandoned in favor of a return to a tubular frame with non-stressed bodywork, and every attempt was made to keep the car low and light.
Piëch wanted to use 13-inch wheels, but Porsche literally didn’t have any. Fortunately, Lotus was attending the GP at the Nürburgring and was willing to sell their spare wheels and suspension bits, so they were purchased and incorporated in what became known as the Ollon-Villars Spyder. Although it made the event, it wasn’t really ready, and Ferrari won, but the die had been cast and development continued on the new “Carrera 6.”
Ever-thrifty (or more likely stuck with the realities of being a small manufacturer with limited development funds), Porsche decided to utilize the suspension and 15-inch wheels that had been ordered for the now-abandoned second series 904, but within those constraints the new coupe was made as low, flat and wide as possible. Extensive wind-tunnel testing was done to make it aerodynamically clean and stable.
The other major component was, of course, the engine. The 904 originally had been conceived as using the 911 (type 901-1) 6-cylinder engine, but it wasn’t ready, so they used the 4-cam, 4-cylinder engine.
Lighter and faster
By 1965, the 901 engine was well proven and reliable for street use but somewhat anemic and heavy for racing, so Piëch’s team set to work. In developing the 901-20 engine, basically everything that was aluminum was changed to magnesium, and everything that was steel and could be converted was made from titanium. The porting was improved, and a second spark plug was added for quicker combustion. The resulting engine made 220 horsepower against the street engine’s 130 horsepower, and it weighed just 286 lbs — 119 lbs lighter than the street 901-01 and lighter even than the 4-cylinder engine! It still looked like a 911 engine, but it was, in fact, a far different unit.
The first 906 ran at Daytona in February 1966 and immediately served notice that the new era had arrived, finishing 6th overall and first in 2-liter prototype (homologation as a production GT wouldn’t arrive until April). By the middle of 1966, the 906 was as dominant as the 904 ever had been.
Two cars, one chassis number
It’s time to get a bit technical about chassis numbers, as it has bearing on our subject car. Porsche quite logically numbered their 904 cars with 904 numbers (904-079 for example) but chose to change to a 906 prefix when they built the 6- and 8-cylinder variants. Thus, numbers 906 01 through 906 12 were in fact 904 chassis with different motors.
Proper 906 chassis numbers started with 906 101 and went from there, which obviously raises the question of why our subject car carries number 906 007.
Therein, as they say, lies a tale.
Alan Hamilton was the son of Australia’s Porsche distributor, and he bought the 904-based, 8-cylinder “Känguruh” Spyder (chassis 906 007) from Porsche. At the same time, he bought an unnumbered 906 chassis and body and imported them to Australia. Somewhere, he came up with a suitable engine, transaxle, suspension and so on (easy enough for a Porsche distributor) and proceeded to race the resulting car as well as the 904 Spyder. When it came time to sell the car, the easiest solution was to give it the same number as the car he officially owned, so a second 906 007 was born. The two chassis have shared a number ever since (the “Känguruh” now lives in Germany).
What impact this should or does have on collectibility and general acceptability is an interesting topic.
If this car were a Ferrari, there would be immense wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth, but it’s not. It’s a racing Porsche, and although it didn’t exactly leave Zuffenhausen as a complete car, it has real parts and real period racing history.
Its ultimate collectibility is clearly damaged, but its usefulness and acceptability as a real 906 are on a par with any other. My discussions with sources who deal extensively with these cars suggest that examples with better history are privately available at over $1m, so a 10% to 15% penalty for a weapons-grade version seems to be what the market demands.
Bonhams first offered the car at Rétromobile in February 2011, where a bid of just over $1m failed to buy it, but SCM reports that it sold post-block. If so, someone was disappointed when the market’s realities became apparent, as it was offered again at Monterey. I’d say that the car was correctly priced for what it was, so it was a fair transaction for the buyer — and unfortunate for the speculator who sold it.
(Introductory description courtesy of Bonhams.)