911R – The Chicane

911R #11899 005R in the 1969 Tour de France

This ad for a Porsche 911R for sale in the October 1977 is one of those astonishing pieces of text that you have to read several times before it quite hits you. Daniel Cole sent this in after he uncovered the clipping during a Porsche Club of America history project he’s working on.

$12,500 in 1977 is $51,235.34 in 2014 dollars. I don’t know the last time that the ex-Siffert 1967 Porsche 911R #1899 005R changed hands, but I’m guessing it was a touch more than $50 Grand.. More than 10x that I’d imagine—maybe 20. Maybe I should phone up the current owner The Collier Collection’s Revs Institute and make an offer.
Thanks for sending this in Daniel!

Bugatti Design Chief, Achim Anscheidt makes a strong case for the similarities between a Porsche 911 and a fixed-gear bicycle. I’m not a fixie rider but I know more than a few and I have to agree with the man. Each of them love fixed-gear because they feel so connected to it; that the bike becomes an extension of themselves. Anscheidt’s comments suggest that it’s not just performance they’re talking about. Each bicycle is a design expression of the rider/builder. That motivation is part of what is behind this marvelous little 911R-ish lightweight hot rod.

In the past ten or fifteen years, I’ve noticed a lot of VW Beetle builders adopting the techniques and even the visual aesthetic of American hot-rodders. It’s only natural that the Porsche 911 become the next platform for this kind of experimentation. I can imagine the R Gruppe peeps among you telling me that this is nothing new, and I agree. But with Singer and Magnus and projects like Achim Anscheidt’s 911 gaining wider exposure, it is definitely on the rise.

Bonus: Anscheidt’s method for finding a tape line on a set of Fuchs is fantastic. I don’t know that I’d have thought of it but it’s such an obvious little technique. I love these kinds of restoration and customization tips.