The total package
Gooding & Co, Amelia Island, USA 13 March
DANG. We’ll get to all the impressive stuff concealed beneath that bodywork, but let’s first take a moment to acknowledge that this 1974 Carrera 3.0 RSR might be the best looking 911 ever. Perfectly exaggerated proportions, the ready-to-rumble stance of a worldclass prize fighter, and race livery that couldn’t be improved if you sat an infinite number of monkeys down at an infinite number of iMacs. If there’s a cooler iteration of Porsche’s most famous creation, then it has escaped our attention.
Of course, the Carrera 3.0 RSR is among the finest pieces of engineering to come out of Stuttgart, too: the 2993cc engine will thump out 330bhp, and the combination of the eager flat-six, supreme roadholding abilities and a kerb weight of 950kg enabled the car to best more brutish machines from the likes of Ferrari and Chevrolet in GT racing back in the 1970s.
This particular car, chassis 911 560 9115, scored a heap of impressive finishes in its day, including first overall in the 1000km of Mexico City, a class win at the 12 Hours of Sebring, and second in class in the 24 Hours of Daytona, in which it competed four times.
The first owner (at the age of 18, sickeningly) was future F1 racer Héctor Rebaque, and neither he nor its subsequent eight keepers ever subjected it to the rough treatment suffered by many of its ilk, and it presents today in pristine restored, on-the-button condition, sporting its original Rebaque/Café Mexicano colours.
The top estimate is a monstrous $1,500,000, but consider the recent performance of the old Porsche market, the car’s CV, aesthetic appeal and potential as a track terror, and you’ll probably agree that it’s unlikely to disappoint its buyer, even at that price.