Porsche 904

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The Porsche 904 and 904 GTS were vehicles built by Porsche in 1964 and 1965, the GTS variant being a race car and the other being its street-legal counterpart.

History

Porsche designed the GTS variant first to compete in the FIA-GT class at various international racing events—and debuted the street-legal version in 1964—in order to comply with GT-class homologation regulations requiring that a certain number of road-going variants be sold by the factory. Both versions featured a fibreglass body which was bonded to its steel chassis for extra rigidity and the engine mid-mounted in the chassis.

1964 models, of which one-hundred were built, featured an aggressively tuned version of the four-cam, flat four-cylinder engine originally designed for race use in the 550 Spyder, and later featured in the 356 Carrera. Twenty 1965 models were produced, some featuring a variant of the 911's flat six-cylinder engine and a very few of them featuring a flat eight-cylinder power plant. Of the six-cylinder and eight-cylinder units, they were varyingly identified as either 904/6, 904/8, or 906.

Race-prepped four-cylinder 904s weighed in at approximately 1,443 pounds, giving them the ability to accelerate to sixty miles per hour from a standstill in under six seconds and to reach one hundred and sixty miles per hour as top speed. However, the 904's fibreglass body was made by spraying chopped fibreglass into a mold, the amount sprayed often varied in thickness over the shape of the car and as a result the weight of the various cars was somewhat inconsistent; some were heavier than others.

During its debut race season in 1964, the 904 won outright at the Targa Florio race in Italy, one of Porsche's many wins at the event. Another event during that season included the winning of first place in P3.0 at Sebring 12 Hours by Briggs Cunningham and Lake Underwood.

External link

• http://www.the904store.com/

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