Beschreibung:

According to a fax dated 12th March 1991 from factory customer racing director and former driver Jurgen Barth, Porsche 906 chassis ‘016’ was originally a works test car and participated in the 1966 Le Mans test weekend, registered ‘S-XE37’. Barth goes on to list the first private owner as W Bock in Italy, who purchased the car on 12th May 1967. We understand from the current vendor that it passed to Swiss driver and race car preparer Pierre de Siebenthal in 1975, who began restoration in the early 1990s, selling the car part way through the rebuild to Swiss collector Jean-Jacques Perrin in 1994. The current owner, another Swiss collector, acquired it upon completion in 1996. Invoices with the car document its restoration and subsequent maintenance, and a report carried out on behalf of the current owner by US Porsche authority Dale Miller in 1998 (which gives his opinion on the better and lesser points of the car’s restoration) is available for inspection by interested parties. To summarise, Mr Miller believes the chassis to be genuine and the engine and transaxle to be of the correct type, but not necessarily original to this car. The coachwork was, in common with many 906s, replaced during restoration. Two expert valuations included in the file place the car’s value (1999 and 2001) significantly higher than today’s estimate. Mr Miller notes in passing that chassis ‘016’ was one of two early development cars at Porsche, the other being ‘017’. The engine was rebuilt by a Porsche specialist in Geneva, as was the gearbox. All suspension parts were rebuilt and the car rewired. The bodywork is finished in white with burgundy seat upholstery and the plexiglas engine canopy has just been replaced with a clear version of the correct type. Following restoration the car was presented for inspection with the Swiss authorities and road registration was granted on 25th February 1999, which is still valid. When introduced in 1966 the Porsche 906 - marketed generally as the 'Carrera 6' - combined a multi-tubular spaceframe chassis with strikingly low and curvaceous lightweight glassfibre body panelling aimed at minimum aerodynamic drag. It marked Porsche's response to new FIA governing body regulations introduced for the 1966 season which specified a minimum production requirement of 50 identical units before a model could qualify for homologation within the new Group 4 Sports class. The engine was a considerably developed racing version of the production 911 air-cooled six-cylinder unit. This 901/20 variant's crankcase was cast in lightweight magnesium instead of aluminium, and its pistons, connecting rods, cylinder barrels and valvegear were all redesigned. With single overhead camshafts topping each cylinder bank, the new engine actually weighed fully 54kg (110lbs) less than the standard 911 unit. The air-cooled flat-six power unit displaced 1991cc and was rated as producing 210bhp at 8,000rpm. The car offered its enthusiastic new owners - like Mr Bock - remarkable performance plus reliability for Porsche's contemporary asking price of DM45,000. Its potential was greeted enthusiastically and all fifty of the initial homologation batch quickly found willing and eager owners. Sold strictly as seen but offering exceptional value, this Competition coupé is “on the button”, ready to compete in a variety of events and even road registered. It offers the successful purchaser the chance to acquire a classic sports-prototype at a level usually associated with production road cars, leaving ample room to improve upon details of the restoration when and if it suits the new owner. Local taxes will be liable if the car remains in the EU. Laut einem Fax vom 12. 03. 1991 von Porsches Werkskunden-Renndirektor und ehemaligen Werksrennfahrer Jürgen Barth handelt es sich bei der Chassisnummer ‘016’ um den offiziellen Testwagen, der von Porsche am Le Mans Testwochenende 1996, mit der Zulassung ‘S-XE 37’ eingesetzt wurde. Die weitere Geschichte, mit einem it