Amazing 1973 Porsche Carrera 2.7 RS Is Up For Sale
This amazing 1973 Porsche Carrera 2.7 RS is up for sale, and could be yours. The reason it’s so special? It’s been dubbed the ‘most successful race rallying Porsche of all time’.
The 1973 Porsche Carrera 2.7 RS was one of just 17 right-hand drive cars fitted with the Sport ‘Lightweight’ package, and was the final one to arrive in the UK, which means it has the homologation features of later cars including RSR short trailing arms.
When it arrived, registration number AUI 1500 was put to work. The serial number, 9113601501 competed in the 1973 RAC Rally, finishing as the highest place Porsche and becoming one of just 6 RS models to make it to the finish of the British Rally. Just 11 ever entered, and just 15 RHD models now survive.
But that was just the start, including winning 3 International Rally wins in 1974 – a feat never achieved by a works-backed RS, and including the Circuit of Ireland International Rally. And it returned to the RAC in 1978 which was the large eligible year, to help develop a new electronic trip meter.
And the motorsport still continued with Porsche factory parts to convert it into a 3.4 litre RSR to compete in the Rolo Motors Historic Championship and Porsche Club SA events in South Africa before finally going into storage in 1987.
If that wasn’t enough, the Porsche Carrera 2.7 RS is also a star. Not only was it used in period advertising by Dunlop and Porsche, and captured on a BBC film about rallying. But it was also referenced in a 1974 pop song about driver Cathal Brendon Curley (Hey CB by Phil Coulter if you’re shopping for vinyl).
A painstaking restoration included resting on a factory jig for two years as each panel was carefully unpicked to help preserve as many factory welds as possible, and it has since been reunited by driver Cathal Curley, reissued a missing ID Plate by Porsche AG Germany, and had the reallocation of the Irish reg number AUI 1500.
Since then it’s been displayed and driven at the PCGB Brands Hatch Festival, as well as by Curley in a special Circuit of Ireland reunion event, and featured on TV show Posh Pawn (the episode will be shown on Sunday, August 21st at 7pm on Channel 4).
So along with probably the most comprehensive set of research and memorabilia, the 1973 Porsche Carrera 2.7 RS AUI 1500 is now available for a private sale via H&H Classics. And we suspect it’s definitely an occasion when if you need to ask the price, it’s probably not in your budget…