From the final model year of the original 911
Delivered in the most powerful 911 T specification, with 140 hp
Timeless 1970s colour combination
Clearly the subject of an extensive restoration
For the 1967 model year, Porsche added the distinctly more performance-oriented 911 S to the 911 range. Just a year later, things were diversified further. The basic model became the 911 T, the T standing for ‘Touring’, while between it and the S there was room for the L, which became the E only a year later. Sounds complicated. It was. Choosing the body style was easier: Coupé or the ‘safety cabriolet’ introduced for 1967, for which Porsche fortunately found the rather more appealing name ‘Targa’ – something that also rolled off the marketing department’s tongue rather more easily.
Over the years, the T, E and S grew together in both capacity and power. After the 1971 summer break, the 1972 model year brought 2.4 litres – 2,341 cc, to be precise. Also new was the 915 gearbox, with first gear now conventionally positioned at the top left. The T produced 130 hp in Europe and, thanks to fuel injection, another 10 hp in the United States. The E offered 165 hp and the S already had 190. And for the final year there was the Carrera RS, a genuinely serious new piece of sporting machinery. With its fabulous 210 hp engine, the lightweight racer was created for motorsport homologation and caused quite a stir on rally stages and racing circuits alike.
For 1973, the basic structure remained unchanged, but Porsche refined the 911 one last time before American safety regulations were to alter its appearance substantially. The previously chromed surrounds of the rear lights and indicators, along with the bright grilles at the front, were now finished in black. Also gone, after just one year, was the troublesome flap on the right rear wing, into which rather too many owners had poured petrol instead of oil. A brief but irritating chapter in the evolution of the 911 was history once again.
The 1973 model year marked a turning point. The 911 had grown up. And in its final year, it showed once more just how well youth had suited it.
This 911 T was delivered to Los Angeles on the US West Coast in December 1972, equipped with the 140 hp fuel-injected engine. It already wore the same colour combination it does today: Light Ivory (1111) with black leatherette (11). According to its Porsche Certificate, it also left the factory with alloy wheels, front and rear anti-roll bars, wheelarch trim, tinted glass and Comfort equipment.
The Porsche came to Austria as early as 2011 and was registered in Tyrol. From 2013, it was with its last keeper in Graz. The 911 has clearly undergone restoration and still presents extremely pleasingly both inside and out. Yet lately it has been rather short of exercise. Entirely incomprehensible to us, because anyone who has driven an early 911 knows exactly where – and why – the fascination of the Porsche 911 first began.