Positively Porsche: Mecum Auctions To Offer 50 First-Class Porsches In Monterey
The Mecum Daytime Auction in Monterey, Calif., has established a reputation for offering some of the world’s finest Porsches in addition to some of the most unique, desirable and highly respected vintage race cars, European classics and more. This year’s auction will bring approximately 50 Porsches of both the racing and street-legal kind, for a variety that is certain to please even the most discerning Porsche enthusiast. Detailed below is just a handful of the Porsches and more that will cross the auction block this Aug. 14-16 at the Hyatt Regency Monterey Hotel and Spa on Del Monte Golf Course.
"August is an exciting time of year for us with such an expansive and widely diverse consignment docket at the Mecum Daytime Auction,” commented Mecum Auctions’ President and Founder Dana Mecum. “Amongst all offerings, Porsche has truly emerged as one of Mecum’s strongest marques in Monterey with a proven track record of strong results. This year’s lineup is yet another testament to this growing segment."
Auction gates will open daily at 8 a.m. and general admission will be available at the gate for $20 per person, per day; children 12 and younger will receive complimentary admission. Portions of the auction will be broadcast on NBC Sports Network and on Mecum’s website at www.mecum.com. Mecum.com is updated daily with the latest consignments including detailed descriptions and photographs of the vehicles. To view the list, to consign a vehicle or to register as a bidder for the Monterey auction, visit www.mecum.com or call (262) 275-5050.
1995 Porsche 962 K8 Spyder (Lot S146)
Erwin and Manfred Kremer began building racing Porsches in Cologne, Germany, in 1962, and by 1968, with several years developing the new 911, Erwin won the European Touring Car Manufacturers' Championship. The K8 was an evolution of the Kremer’s successful Group C Porsche 962-based CK6, which they had already adapted into an open-prototype class CK7. For the 1994 Le Mans, they constructed an extremely strong car based with a carbon fiber body on a honeycomb aluminum tub from an existing CK6. With little time and severe regulations, power from the 900-plus horsepower CK7 was down to 530hp. Even as the car was completed, however, the Kremers landed a contract to build Honda NSXs for Le Mans and it looked as though support for the K8 was at an end.
Then, British Project 100 stepped in, with legendary driver Derek Bell on board for one final drive before retirement. While the K8 gridded second, it was not fully developed; still, Bell, Jurgen Laessig and Robin Donovan brought it to the finish line in sixth.
At Daytona in 1995, Kremer was back with a new, fully prepared chassis, WSC01, driven by Jurgen Lassig, Marco Werner, Christophe Bouchut and Giovanni Lavaggi. As expected, the four Ferrari 333 SPs were fast, but the Kremer Porsche had one huge advantage over them: it didn’t break down. By the 15th hour, the final one of the four Ferraris fell off the leaderboard. Meanwhile, the K8 got faster and faster, eventually matching Ferrari’s peak 31-laps-per-hour pace. Aside from a brief stint behind the Brix Racing Oldsmobile-Spice, the WSC01 K8 led the race home by five laps, finishing 680 laps and 2,456.4 miles at an average 102.28mph, 45 laps ahead of the sole remaining Ferrari. Christophe Bouchut, appearing in his first Daytona, had previously won at the 1993 24 Hours of Le Mans, becoming the first ever driver to win both 24-hour endurance events on the first try.
WSC01 went on to appear at the Sebring 12 hours and Le Mans 24 hours that year, but lightning didn’t strike twice. Including the 1994 Le Mans car, Kremer constructed a total of four K8s and while they were very good cars, including sixth overall at Le Mans for K8-02 and a Monza 1000 win, none had a victory with the stature of Daytona.
In the late ‘90s, WSC01 reemerged briefly in the FIA’s SportsRacing World Cup in Europe, before being acquired by a private collector. It has now been returned to the full #10 Kremer livery as seen at Daytona, immediately recognizable to any lover of timeless Porsche racing cars. Indeed, it even returned to Daytona as a featured car at the race’s 50th anniversary in 2005.
1976 Porsche 934/935 IMSA El Salvador (Lot S174)
Production no. 106.3958, chassis 9306700171 was the 27th of the 31 934 Turbo RSRs homologated for the 1976 season and appears to have been delivered to the Georg Loos GELO team, which would have entered it in the Mugello six-hour race, Nurburgring 1,000km and at Le Mans, finishing strongly at all three. However, these early results from March through June 1976, have not yet been fully confirmed as belonging to 1071. Much better history exists with Claude Haldi, who raced it extensively through the end of 1977, including Le Mans that year and a GT class win at the Nurburgring 1000.
When Haldi replaced 0171 with a 935, he sold 0171 to the racer widely known as JAMSAL, the nom de guerre of El Salvadoran Minister of Sports, Enrique Molins. His Scorpio Racing raced 0171 not only in Central America to great success, but in North America as well, including twice at the 24 Hours of Daytona, Sebring, Riverside and Mosport. By the end of 1978, JAMSAL had converted the car to full twin-turbo 935 specifications and in 1980, restyled it with the current K3/M13 body. Raced and upgraded continually through 1986, 0171 made its last in-period appearance at the Miami Grand Prix.
By 2005, a restoration began that left the car in its 1981 Daytona livery, with correct 760hp 935 specifications, then proven with Monterey Historics appearances. With almost 50 race entries on record over more than a decade of steady competition, 0171 is a well-known, highly regarded example of the evolution of a 934 into a 935 that typified the era.
1953 Porsche 356/1500 Reutter Cabriolet (Lot S192)
It was an exciting time for the 356. Sales in 1952 had topped 1,000 cars and the pace of improvement was picking up notably. The 356 had gone on sale in the U.S. in 1950, and almost immediately owners discovered that even these early 40hp cars could embarrass much larger sports cars on the track. The factory was close behind and by 1951, two works cars were entered at Le Mans, where the #46 Veuillet/Mouche 1100 finished an incredibly strong 20th, winning its S1.1 group and coming in only two places behind John Fitch and Phil Waters in a Hemi-powered Cunningham C2-R. The Le Mans appearance in itself was marvelous publicity, and succeeding in such distinguished company helped set the course of the 356 as a sports car for the rest of its run.
Number 60266 is confirmed by the included Porsche Certificate of Authenticity and Kardex as a USA-spec pre-A 1500, factory-equipped with Bosch heater, rear bench and radio. It has been restored in the original R504 Ivory exterior, over a Red leather interior with Black convertible top.
For true lovers of early Porsches, the pre-A 356s have a distinct mystique. The unmistakable split-window styling; the hand-built construction; and the sense of owning a piece of the beginning of a legend and the Porsche legacy are irreplaceable. With only a few thousand of all types built, and 394 Cabriolets in total for 1953, it’s a chance to be part of a legacy which stretches unbroken to today.
1958 Porsche 356A Speedster (Lot S150)
Imported by Hoffman Motors in New York City, this 1958 Porsche 356 Speedster was completed on November 24, 1957 and delivered from the factory in code 701 Black with a Red interior, sealed beam headlights and U.S.-specification bumpers. Chassis number 83989, it was in long-term ownership before being restored by noted Porsche expert Thomas Drummond III, who has 42 years of experience with the marque.
The restoration began by stripping the excellent original tub to bare metal and removing all parts including the wiring harness. Inspection revealed a no-hit body with original floors and the last three digits of the chassis number stamped on every panel. The body was painted, completely blocked down with 600-grit sandpaper and painted again. Great care was taken in ensuring authenticity, which is evident in such details as factory bumpers, guards and tubes and correctly dated wheels, hub caps, ignition coil and carburetors; even the windshield wipers are the correct and rare original Speedster “pickle fork” style.
Further demonstrating this attention to detail, the hardware is original to the car; the manufacturer’s name is on each bolt, all of which were correctly re-plated in either clear cadmium or black oxide. The Porsche factory assembly manual’s exploded drawings were used to ensure every part was properly installed and correct, including a new cloth-insulated wiring harness. The mechanicals were handled with the same exacting care; the rebuilt original engine is detailed to as-new and is a strong, great-sounding runner, and its rare 1958-only external thermostat case oil-cooling design is complete and properly installed. The all-independent suspension is completed as new and reflects the same quality finish, including undercoating to match the factory-delivery finish.
The only departure from the car’s original configuration is its interior, now finished in Red leather with Tan carpets and completed with exceptional fit and finish that contribute to the car’s spectacular appearance. Complete with side curtains, top boot, tool kit, and owner’s manual, this wonderful Speedster is documented with a copy of the factory Kardex. Just days after its completion the car scored an excellent 293.5 points at the 2014 Monterey Porsche Parade Concours d’Elegance and was awarded the Weissach Award for score. The car has since been completely inspected and each item of deduction corrected with the goal of achieving a perfect 300 score. Given this 1958 Porsche Speedster’s superb presentation, that goal seems entirely possible on its next outing.
1989 Porsche 911 Speedster (Lot S151)
Porsche unveiled its new 911 Cabrio at the Frankfurt Auto Show in 1981, but for American Porschephiles the 1954-58 Speedster remained the most legendary of open Porsches. That fact did not go unnoticed by Porsche’s U.S. managing Director Peter W. Schutz, who ordered engineer Gerhard Schroder, who was virtually singlehandedly responsible for the Cabrio, to sketch a feasible concept for a modern Speedster. Schroder answered the challenge in September of 1982. His sketches were passed to the Porsche styling department, where work began on a full-scale model.
While relatively crude compared to the Cabrio – the concept called for a low-cut frameless windshield, snap-in door windows and minimal weather protection – the finished prototype received enthusiastic approval, but because the Cabrio had instantly spawned several aftermarket chop jobs, it was hidden away until the 911’s replacement, internally named the 964, began undergoing development for production in June 1986.
As this 1989 Porsche 911 Speedster demonstrates, the production model is much more refined than Schroder’s initial design. Unrestored and driven just 1,371 original miles by a single owner, its sporty elegance is matched by the sure-footed performance for which the 911 is famous. Porsche’s air-cooled 3.2L/215hp flat-six provides the punch through a five-speed manual gearbox with limited slip differential to BF Goodrich radials on 16-by-7-inch painted Fuchs alloy wheels. The car’s gorgeous Grand Prix White paint is beautifully matched by its Red leather interior (ordered to match a customer-supplied sample) and Blue cloth top. The basic Speedster was equipped similarly to the Club Sport, with windup windows and a storage shelf in place of the rear seats; this version offers electric seat adjustment, electrically adjustable heated outside mirrors, integrated fog lights, a shortened gear shift lever and a four-speaker sound system. Documentation includes the original window sticker, bill of lading and the all-important Porsche Certificate of Authenticity. Porsche built just 2,100 Speedsters, only 800 of which went to the American market. Those numbers assure rarity, especially in such uniquely original examples as this.
1963 Porsche 356B Carrera 2 Sunroof Coupe (Lot S160)
For those who wanted a potent car they could race on the weekends, but that remained civilized enough to drive to the track, Porsche built a series of Carreras. Externally very similar to the 356s on which they were based, Carreras offered sporting but still comfortable accommodations; often more performance-oriented gear ratios; and most importantly, special engines.
The two-liter, four-cam 2000 GS engine in the Carrera 2 was very special, indeed. In street tune, it made 130hp DIN – 152bhp SAE at 6,200rpm and 131lbs-ft of torque at 4,600. In Road & Track testing in 1962, that moved a 2,220-pound two-liter Carrera to 60mph in 9.2 seconds, and they hit a fantastic (and factory advertised) 126mph. Even better, improvements in the design of the four-cam engine had improved tractability, reliability and maintenance. The appeal of this tidy and nimble package was well demonstrated by the thousands of amateur racers who brought their assorted 356s across the finish line in first place throughout the '50s and '60s.
This T-6-body 356B from the Robert Rathe Porsche Collection enjoys a period-correct type-587/1 engine rebuilt by none other than Bill Doyle’s Rennwagen Motor Company, the unquestioned master of the four-cam. Delightful original color Brown corduroy upholstery comes from Porsche restoration specialists on the other side of the country, the renowned Paterek Brothers.
Alongside the standard coupes, Porsche constructed small batches of rare sunroof coupes. These, along with comparably rare cabriolets, are truly in a class by themselves and tend to remain in collectors’ hands for years at a time. Finished in the car’s original 6203HC Oslo Blue with work performed by the country’s foremost 356 experts, this is a Carrera 2 that will appeal to any lover of great sports cars. Whether entered in the next Porsche Parade or Copperstate 1000, it will surely delight owners and onlookers alike.
About Mecum Auctions
Nobody sells more than Mecum. Nobody. The Mecum Auction Company is the world leader of collector car, vintage and antique motorcycle, and Road Art sales, hosting auctions throughout the United States. The company has been specializing in the sale of collector cars for 27 years, now offering more than 15,000 vehicles per year and averaging more than one auction each month. Established by President Dana Mecum in 1988, Mecum Auctions remains a family-run company headquartered in Walworth, Wis. For further information, visit Mecum.com or call (262) 275-5050. Follow along with Mecum’s social media news and join us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest and Instagram.
Schedule:
Mecum Monterey Auction
Hyatt Regency Monterey Hotel and Spa
Del Monte Golf Course
1 Old Golf Course Road
Monterey, CA 93940
August 14-16, 2014
Admission: $20 per person, per day; children 12 and younger receive complimentary admission
Preview: Gates open at 8 a.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday
Auction: Vehicles start at 10 a.m. each day with Road Art 30 minutes prior
TV Broadcast Schedule: Thursday, August 14 Esquire: 11 AM-1 PM Live NBCSN: 3:30-6 PM Same Day Delay
Friday, August 15 Esquire: 11 AM-1:30 PM Live NBCSN: 3:30-6 PM Same Day Delay
Saturday, August 16 Esquire: 11 AM-1:30 PM Live NBCSN: 6-8 PM Same Day Delay
(All Times Pacific)
