It's only a matter of time before more follow. Take the massive potential of the 1973 911 2.7 RS, which has seen enormous price jumps in recent years: €500,000-plus is no longer a rarity for this classic 911. And early this year we witnessed auction house Gooding & Company sell one of only 200 Porsche 911 Carrera RS 2.7 ‘Lightweight’ models, with the coveted M471 sports package, for 1.4 million U.S. dollars.
While Porsche’s long-anticipated return to the Le Mans 24 Hours in June wasn’t quite the hoped-for success, the marque’s presence at this year’s Le Mans Classic reminded us of the unrivalled number of victories that Porsche has enjoyed here over the years.
When you’re overtaken on the public road by a formation of thunderous Ford GT40s – followed closely by a Lamborghini Countach and a Ferrari 512BB – you’re either hallucinating from motorway monotony, or on the way to Le Mans. Every other year, the European historic racing scene congregates in northwest France for its own version of the legendary 24-hour race.
As the second model to wear the company saviour’s initials, Aston Martin launched the DB2/4 to an ever-receptive audience at the 1953 Earls Court Motor Show. Inheriting the GT qualities of its two-seat DB2 forebear – including its W.O. Bentley-designed straight-six – the new car would allow two more (albeit rather small) people to enjoy its long-distance touring capabilities, thanks to a supplementary row of ‘occasional’ seats.
In a massive coup for the British auction house, the consigned car (s/n 3851 GT) will be the first 250 GTO to be sold in the public domain for several years – and will astonishingly carry no reserve at the California sale. First sold to French racing driver Jo Schlesser, it was soon campaigned in the 1962 Tour de France, ultimately placing second. Three years later it was sold to Fabrizio Violati, who “saved the car from scrap and hid it from my parents – I only drove it at night so nobody would see me,” he recalled before his death in 2010.