Exclusive: the story of the last ever RHD Porsche 2.7 RS

9113601576 is a collection of numbers that equals big money. No, they’re not the new combination to Hatton Garden’s safe deposit, or Mark Zuckerberg’s phone number. Rather, they’re a very significant set of digits if you’re fluent in Porsche and see a car as an investment instead of transport.


Those ten integers makeup the VIN number for something special. To break it down, ‘911’ denotes the model, while ‘360’ is the spec, namely the 1973 2.7 RS, arguably the greatest 911 of them all. And ‘1576’? Well, that’s the chassis number for the final, rare-as-they-come right-hand drive homologation special.

They’re currently tattooed all over the main components and chassis of that rather tatty-looking, purple 911 above. And that makes this Porsche 911 2.7 RS a ‘matching numbers’ car. And that means it’s excruciatingly valuable.

How much are we talking? Well, even though it doesn’t exactly look like any of those other 2.7 RSs you’ve been dribbling over in glossy magazines, it really doesn’t matter.

Because all of its internals match up to its body, it currently has a value of around £500,000. Yep, even while being cooped up in a barn with chickens aimlessly roaming around its wheel wells. After a restoration (a meticulous process costing somewhere in the region of £150,000), it could be worth in excess of £1million.

You have permission to pick your jaw up off the floor. Aside from the brain-freezing worth attached to its history and mechanical DNA, this car also has a story. A story that includes a tropical life in the Caribbean, mystifying spec options, suspect modifications and, er, a murder. We’re the first people to have wrapped our ears around it, and seen the car with our own eyes. So pull up a chair, grab a cup of tea and let’s begin. First, a history lesson. In the early Seventies the European GT Championship was created. This was good for Porsche, as the 911 would be eligible for Group 4 racing, which would once again pit the Germans up against Ferrari.

More specially, it would put them up against the 365 GTB Daytona ‘Competizione’ – a gorgeous car that had a displacement almost twice that of the 911’s. A fact that put the men in Porsche’s motorsport department in a bit of a pickle. In order to be competitive, they had to get creative.

Using a Porsche 911 S – a car that’d been dominant in rallying and the original Tour De France motor race – as a base, the aim was to strip as much weight out of the car and up the power. To save weight, lighter materials were used, panels and glass were thinned out, and what could be stripped out, was.The 2.4-litre engine was increased to 2.7-litres, giving 210bhp. That, in combination with taller gearing for 4th and 5th, pushed the top speed to 152mph and saw a 0-60mph time of sub-6.0sec.

Compared to the standard Carrera, the new car featured an airdam, wider flares to accommodate Fuchs alloy wheels with wider back tyres than fronts (a first), stiffened suspension, larger brakes and a gorgeous ducktail rear spoiler.

To mark this momentous new model, a fresh badge was also sourced and pinned onto the back of the car. It read ‘RS’. Renn Sport. By now you should know that those initials mean good things on Planet Porsche, as they denote track-honed road cars. But the 911 2.7 RS was the first of them.topgear