Very Early Porsche 911 Makes Its Rally Debut

Out of Hiding

You would think that a car as legendary and priceless as one of the very first Porsche 911s ever built would be sitting in a museum somewhere. Or maybe locked in a climate-controlled, highly secured vault. But you'd be wrong. Well, sort of. Car #57 that you see here actually does live in the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart. But it came out of hiding recently to participate in the 11th edition of the Hamburg-Berlin Classic car rally. 

Hunting Junk

The discovery and resurrection of this particular Porsche 911 is rather fascinating, too. When it was found in 2014, the entire thing was documented on the German junk-hunting show Der Trödeltrupp – Das Geld liegt im Keller. Little did they know at the time, however, just what they had found. 

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901, Not 911

Soon they realized that what they had stumbled upon was, in fact, one of the first 911s ever built, with a build date of October 1964. It still bore the designation of 901, making it one of the first series models of Porsche's legendary sport cars. 

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Rusted, but Not Beyond Repair

The car itself, however, was in terrible shape. The front fenders were gone, the brakes, engine, and various other parts rusted beyond repair. Regardless, the Porsche Museum quickly sprung on the opportunity to buy this important car and set about restoring it. 

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Built to Drive

Porsche spent the next three years painstakingly restoring this 911 back to its original spec. But the car didn't have much downtime after that. Instead, car #57 immediately got back to doing what it was built to do in the first place - drive. 

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First Timers

With drivers Bernd Ibold and Otto Schulte behind the wheel, the early 911 embarked on some 600 kilometers of road. Fittingly, it wasn't just the first rally for the car, but for both drivers as well. 

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Historic Route

This year's running of the Hamburg-Berlin Classic took place from Bremen to Hamburg through the beautiful scenery of Northern Germany. The finish line, appropriately, was the equally historic Hamburg Fish Market. 

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Bring Your Friends

Joining car #57 were two other historic rides from Porsches collection, too: a 911 SC 3.0 Targa (model year 1981; start number 130) and a 911 2.7 (model year 1975; start number 142). 

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No Trailer Queens

Obviously, Porsche could have just finished its work and left this historic car safely in their museum. However, we think it's pretty noble for them to not only drive the thing but also rally it. But then again, despite what some collectors might think, Porsche never built a car intending it to sit, now did they? 

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