Over the years, Kevin and I have played with some very special air cooled Porsche’s. Recently,we had the chance to spend the day with a special 911 that I had always been curious about from Porsche lore, especially, since not many Porsches after the seventies interest us.

 The brain child of Jurgen Barth, the 1991 964 RS Leichtbau (light build) continued the lightweight tradition of Porsche street performance cars.  After all, the 964 RS was the handy work of 40 engineers at Weissach’s competition department that were also responsible for the company’s racing program.

Not many modern 911’s project a presence like this car. There are no graphics to proclaim its model designation or pedigree. The 964 RS projects a feeling of focused purpose that brings to mind 911R and Carrera RS functionality.  One has no doubt that this car is a hand built competition-inspired automobile.  The technical specs on this car speak from themselves:

• No sunroof .
• Aluminum doors, hood, fiberglass whale tail, plexiglas sliding windows.
• Stripped out cabin, stiffened wielded body shell, Matter roll cage.
• Carrera Cup suspension, Carrera Cup motor and centered racing clutch.

*     And even the magnesium pie plate wheels are cool.

 Strapping oneself into the driver seat of the RS, it’s hard not to feel the moment of the occasion. From the Porsche decal hood emblem, to the poor fitting  aluminum doors, to the thrashing exhaust note, this car reeks of purpose.  The daunting torque converter adjusting dials on the dash look terrific and make me think of Walter Rohl’s ability to understand the dialogue between man and machine – not something  I will be attempting since I plan on many more years of restoration work.

In anticipation, I turn the key in the ignition and watch the dash board light up. With one more turn, the engine ignites into a serious cacophony of noise.  I peak up through the sliding Plexiglas window at Kevin and he is grinning ear to ear.  It’s obvious that the stainless steel exhaust manifolds and expansion boxes, one per side, allow a lot of airflow out of the twin pipes.  After warming the engine oil up, I give the the throttle several jabs for good measure and it’s oince again hard not to smile. The fly wheel and motor really rev on this car.  It has an early car connectivity and tactile feel through the pedal. 

Driving the car in normal traffic to it’s new home, it’s readily apparent that this is a serious machine.  Accelerating through the gears is glorious and you catch yourself wanting to change gears for the pure pleasure of it.  The Recaro’s upright seating position, Momo steering wheel in your chest, connecting to an unservo-ed competition rack, make you realize that this is not a car for the faint of heart. 

I arrive at the car’s new home and hand over the keys to the new happy owner. My blood is pumping after the 35 mile drive on back roads and I feel lucky to have exercised good judgement while driving a customer car.  

In conclusion, some fun-loving Porsche race engineers made some very special parts to create the ultimate R Gruppe hot rod.  With only 20 hand-made examples leaving the doors of Weissach, this special 911 truly represents the Porsche lightweight ethos.  Oh, did I mention that this car is chassis 001?