PORSCHE 904

 A few months ago I got into a conversation about cars with a work colleague. Nothing unusual about that you may think for a car designer, but we were arguing over what was the greatest Porsche ever. Nice chap that he is, my colleague can be a bit of a car bore and is full of useless information, facts and figures plus he is an absolute Porsche freak.

“The 917” I say without hesitation, but my colleague said “No! No! No! What about the 904?” with a smug smile on his face. The proportions of the 904 were never quite right for me "It looks too narrow and the front overhang looks like Barry Manilow's nose" I blurted, and to my surprise he sort of agreed with me, but it was what he said next that surprised me even more " You wanna see the one I’ve got?” Apparently he was storing a 904 for a friend in his underground garage. Luckily I had my camera with me and it was close to lunch time, so we immediately set off to his home in the centre of Munich.

The garage was dark and cold, I waited with anticipation as he flicked the lights on and operated the double-deck parking system. Slowly the 904 revealed itself, the car lift clunked to a stop and my colleague rolled the car off its ramp. In the stark fluorescent light I could see it had been well used, but it was clean and straight and looked tiny in this huge underground garage. As I slowly moved around the car snapping off photos my colleague filled me in with a brief history of the 904.

 

“It weighs only 650 kilos, you know? the bodywork is made from fibre-glass and bonded to the frame” He opens the rear to reveal a clean looking engine. “Its a 2-litre 6-cylinder, which was later fitted to the 911. Early cars only had 4-cylinder engines with 180 hp, you know? and in 19......” he continues reeling off other detailed information about the engine, but it’s just lost on me. He attempts to start it, nothing, not even a click, the battery is flat, he curses loudly and the sound of “Fuck it!” echoes around the room. He also realizes for the first time there's no heater and I later learn he has to deliver it to the owner in Turin the next day. It’s March, very cold and the 904 has no heater!

I have to admit after spending some time studying the 904 you become aware of how delicate and minimalistic its design is and after learning about its racing achievements it just makes It that little bit more desirable, it’s a no compromise tool designed to win races. 

After realizing he's going to have to charge the battery overnight and wear an Antarctic survival suit to to drive it to Turin, he still hits me with the facts "Its very rare, you know? Only 120 cars were ever built from 1963 to 1964 and most of those were homologated for racing, you know? It won at Lemans, Targa Florio and,and......"I interrupt him before he can continue “With no heater of course! You know?”  

The echoes were much louder this time!

Comments

[Rik]

Nice..ice..ice..ice!
I would drive it to Turin any day (and twice on Sunday) without heater, even it it were a droptop, and I'm not even a Porsche-man!!!

Fabulous car!

The older I get, the less I like the 'more beautifull' cars. Beauty is easy (are there any ugly cars these days aside from the SsangYong Rodius?), character is difficult!

You and this collegue still on friendly terms?

[Steve]

Thanks Rik,
Yes, I'm still friends with my colleague, but it all depends on whether he reads this post or not?

[Mattijs]

@Steve: A nice post on a neat car. Thank you for shining a light on Munich's "underground" car culture. Dramatic pics. The 904 is one of my all time favorite Porsches you know!? The elegant surfaces that cover the slightly odd package, the wrap around splitline and of course the steel rims. So normal, minimalistic and built to race. I own one as well, but is it 18 times smaller than the original.

[Geert]

Awesome car. Loadsa character and a great little piece of (automotive) ass! And -indeed- that funny undercut flank feature running into the rear spoiler. Love it.

Strolling through mobile.de a month or so ago, I bumped into this one. Should anyone be tempted to build his dream 904, here's your chance (sell the other car though):
http://suchen.mobile.de/fahrzeuge/showDetails.html?id=123519426&__lp=12&scopeId=C&sortOption.sortBy=price.consumerGrossEuro&sortOption.sortOrder=ASCENDING&makeModelVariant1.makeId=20100&makeModelVariant1.modelId=1&makeModelVariant1.searchInFreetext=false&makeModelVariant2.searchInFreetext=false&makeModelVariant3.searchInFreetext=false&vehicleCategory=Car&segment=Car&siteId=GERMANY&negativeFeatures=EXPORT&damageUnrepaired=NO_DAMAGE_UNREPAIRED&export=NO_EXPORT&customerIdsAsString=&lang=de&pageNumber=2

Prior to the last Le Mans Classic, there was a great vid on the official site, showing a lightweight E-type chasing down one or two 904s around the track. Brilliant sight to see the (obviously lightweight) 904(-s) hump around the bends like skippy balls while being reeled in and let go by that big louvred E-type hood. Can't find it anymore just now but will post when I do.

(PS: those wheels look a bit like 5-hole versions of mid-70s VW wheels. Or is it me?)

[huib]

Nice pix, beautiful, rare, 'race focused' car. A German in Torino. 'Beauty is easy, character is difficult'. Amen.

[JL]

The Porsche 904 was what inspired Ferrari. I'm going to build myself one -