1973 Porsche 911 Carrera RS Lightweight
Vehicle Details
- Year: 1973
- Make: Porsche
- Model: 911 Carrera RS Lightweight
- VIN: 9113601014
- Mileage: 18,170
- Transmission: Manual
- Title Status: Clean
- Color: Tangerine
- Seller: ebaptista
- Seller Type: Dealer (Consignment)
- Location: Fort Lauderdale, FL 33308
- Dealer Fees: None
- Lot #: V-0011365
It is our pleasure to present this legendary 1973 Porsche 911 Carrera RS 2.7 Lightweight finished in Tangerine. Widely recognized as the purest and most significant Porsche 911 of all time, the original Carrera RS was developed as a special limited-edition model within Porsche’s racing department for the purpose of homologating the 911 for Group 4 Special GT racing. The RS was derived from the F-program and utilized a special lightweight construction, stiffer suspension, a larger 2.7L flat-six engine, and revised bodywork including the iconic ducktail rear spoiler. Porsche would go on to produce a total of 1,580 Carrera RS 2.7 cars, of which only 200 were configured as bare-bones M471 "Lightweight" sport models. Produced in April of 1973 and delivered new to Italy, this M471 Lightweight example was treated to a complete restoration prior to being imported to the U.S. and has recently obtained a Porsche Classic Technical Certificate confirming the car’s origins, specifications, and engine number. Considered by many to be the holy grail of all Porsche 911s, this rare and highly coveted Carrera RS Lightweight is now being offered for auction by its seller out of Florida.
During the restoration, this RS was completely refinished in its original nonmetallic shade of Tangerine. Distinctive black Carrera graphics run along both sides of the car as well as a Porsche logo across the rear end and a Carrera RS designation on the underside of the ducktail rear spoiler. The front Porsche crest was also applied as a decal to save wieght. The bodyshell of the RS was constructed from thinner gauge steel and utilized wider rear fender flares to accommodate the rear wheels. On the Lightweight M471 version, the front and rear bumpers were made from glass reinforced plastic along with the rear decklid. The exterior trim from the standard 911 was removed along with much of the underbody coating for the purpose of weight savings. The 15” Fuchs alloy wheels measure 6” wide in front and 7” wide in the rear, and come fitted with colored Porsche center crests and Pirelli P6000 tires.
The black leatherette interior of the RS features basic felt carpeting, black rubber mats, simple door panels with manual window cranks, thinner glass, and lightweight Recaro bucket seats. In the pursuit of maximum weight savings Porsche had omitted the clock, radio, sound deadening, air conditioning, glovebox lid, and rear seats. This example has been fitted with a MOMO Prototipo steering wheel, Vosstek aluminum pedal covers, MOMO 4-point safety harnesses, sun visors, and a fire extinguisher with a Brey-Krause mount beneath the passenger seat.
In comparison with standard 2.4L 911s of the time, the RS was equipped with a larger 2.7L flat-six engine featuring Bosch mechanical fuel injection and Nikasil-coated aluminum cylinders. Driving the rear wheels is a 5-speed 915 manual gearbox specially adapted with a heavier clutch spring as well as taller 4th and 5th gears. Suspension enhancements for the RS include gas-filled Bilstein struts, 18mm/19mm front and rear stabilizer bars, reinforced suspension mounts, and a light alloy front suspension support. The disc brakes were carried over from the 911S model. The combination of a powerful engine, lightweight construction, and fine-tuned suspension resulted in one of the greatest driving 911s ever produced. The recent Porsche Classic Technical Certificate is provided for reference in the photo gallery.
The sale of this Carrera RS Lightweight will include the Porsche Classic Certificate and a clean title. Do not miss this very special opportunity to own what is commonly regarded as the greatest Porsche 911 of all time.
Auction Results
- Highest Bid: $325,000
- Auction End: Jul 19, 2021 08:10:00PM UTC
- Number of Bids: 5
Comments (34)
@porschebf Depends when the RSR body was applied and by whom. Tough to give you a better answer without the VIN and some history. Not allowed to give out contact information on PCarMarket but you can DM me under the same user name at:
https://www.early911sregistry.org/forums/showthread.php?38594-1973-Carrera-RS-Cars-for-Sale/page223
@mbmcrae This is an out of production factory RS Lightweight with an RSR body ... all original and not modified in any way ... must be rare ? Any idea how many of these they made ? From my understanding only a select few left the factory this way ...
It is the car at Mecum (I saw it back in ‘18). Odd it was valued as high as it was that time…. Yet it did not sell.
Really unfortunate that Classic will issue the documents willy-nilly. I will submit feedback as well to this issue.
Overall though, the buyer has to beware of the item (conduct a ppi with an ACTUAL RS specialist) and buy the seller. In this instance, the provenance cannot be established and its a blight on the market.
We have on RS going on the block here in Monterey next month. We’ll see what the market is currently providing people show up….numbers have been down for the last 2 big events at Laguna. So, I’m expecting some number issues and whatnot.
@mbmcrae Thanks for all the info. you just helped the naive buyer and the innocent seller.
@porschebf Tough one. Will depend on whether the original car was a verified lightweight when it left the factory and the date of modification (was it done in period for racing? vs someone butchering it later in life?) and what the rest of the car condition is... and if/when changes were made to the drivetrain or if it still is a standard 2.7 etc.
My guess would be $750k to $1.5m depending on those answers - sorry for the big range.
@mbmcrae appreciate your knowledge.
I know of an RS Lightweight with a factory RSR body ... any idea of its market value ?
@Wuliangye Totally agree with you. Unfortunately Porsche just provides Certificate of Authenticity documents which shows what the car with that VIN was shipped with from the factory. So they will happily send the COA to multiple parties.
Porsche should do more here but and actually validate the exact car. Ferrari Classiche has its good points and bad points (huge profit center for them) but it has much more authority in the market place.
@Wuliangye Market is down from those highs. Current market is about $900k to $1.1m for a near perfect lightweight unless it has some amazing race history. I know of 3 lightweights for sale right now all under $1.1m - two listed publicly and gorgeous (one Bahia red, one Yellow), and one for auction next month at Gooding and they pegged the estimate exactly as above ($900k to $1.1m - car is Grand Prix White with Red).
https://www.goodingco.com/lot/1973-porsche-911-carrera-rs-27-lightweight/?filtersInput%5BauctionType%5D%5B0%5D=Live%20Auction&filtersInput%5BauctionYear%5D%5B0%5D=2021&filtersInput%5BliveAuctionVenue%5D%5B0%5D=Pebble%20Beach&sortBy=ENDING_SOONEST&pageNumber=3
mbmcrae
Obviously you are well educated on this. I believe it is the responsibility of Porsche now to step in and clean up this mess. Anyone using Porsche Classic Center as the official document to represent Authenticity should be held responsible as well as Porsche.
GT3er
In today's market well over $1.5 million
@mbmcrae Thank you for the clarification and in so doing, the education.
Anyone venture an estimate of what this car would sell for if there was no question surrounding the VIN? It is a beauty.
@porschebf Looks like auction was ended early which makes sense given the nature of the car.
Regarding Mecum, a car with this VIN (can't be certain it was this one exactly - hence the problem) was auctioned in 2017, 2018, and 2019. All three years it failed to sell with the last auction reaching a $200,000 high bid once the history was know. A shame this has happened to such a great model but shows you how important full history and VIN searches are for Carrera RS purchases.
Hope this #1014 issue gets cleared up at some point but my guess is it will remain messy forever unless someone buys all 3 cars and combines original parts, destroys the rest.
@dG8 Not an idiot... unfortunately there are many fakes or "tributes" in the Carrera RS market. I know of at least 8 VINs that have multiple cars in the world.
Sometimes this happened when a Carrera RS was heavily damaged (many were raced heavily in the 1970's). Someone would take the chassis with the VIN and rebuild a car with new parts, engine, transmission etc. But then someone finds the engine and then rebuilds a chassis around it and stamps the original VIN. Suddenly you have two cars with the same VIN. Which one is "real"?
Some cars are just flat out copied or replicated down to falsifying the VIN and it is clear which one is real and fake. Unfortunately in this case even the real cars value can be impacted since there is a face duplicate running around which collectors hate as it could call into question the original car in the future.
Bid in the amount of $325,000
https://www.mecum.com/lots/CA0818-346389/1973-porsche-911-rs-lightweight/
here is the car
@mbmcrae I appreciate all the information and as mentioned before I’m currently working with the importer of the car on gathering more information although, it’s not something that I can accomplish from one day to the next.
@Sword_of_the_Spirit I can’t say as I don’t know the Mecum car.
dG8 Your not an idiot !!!
Question is what is the Porsche Classic Certificate
The sale of this Carrera RS Lightweight will include the Porsche Classic Certificate
I’m an idiot but how do three cars share the same VIN?
This is the same one at Mecum in 2018
Bid in the amount of $300,911
@ebaptista I think that would be a good idea and potentially help your auction. Here is some info posted by some well-informed individuals on a key forum (take it for what it is but may help in tracking the 3 cars that share this VIN and determine which example this one is):
"I think that there are at least 3 cars around claiming that identity. As far as I can work out neither the car in the USA (identified in a few different advertisements and dealerships by the metal pedals prototypo steering wheel,2 bolt fan strap etc) or the car that was for sale in Germany some years ago at Pyritz (identified by 2 bolt black fan strap on engine and 10K tach no paint badge and glove box lid) are the real one."
"There was a #1014 in Monaco sold in 2014 after it had an extensive renovation. It had a number of visual differences to this car most notably it had a single bolt yellow fan strap which would be correct for an April built car rather than the two bolt on this car. Also the Monaco one had 33868 kilometers showing on its odometer rather than the 18144 showing on this one. In addition the Monaco one did not have a glove box lid, and had stock pedals and steering wheel although they are easily changed."
"This one looks like a car purporting to be #1014 that was for sale in the USA at "High Marques" in 2016 which had the same steering wheel and 18091 on the odo (as well as wrong fan strap, wrong pedals etc). there was another car being sold as #1014 in Germany at the time and it also did not look correct for a number of reasons."
Bid in the amount of $250,000
@Bg57gt4 Thank you, and agreed 100%. I got in touch with the importer who mentioned that the car was rebuilt prior to his purchase, so logically done in Italy. I expect to have further information sooner rather than later. Thank you.
@ebaptista, it seems this listing is missing quite a bit of detail. Any records of the “restoration “? Buyers need to see that. Who did it, what was done, any rust of note? Was anything done to address the “fails” in the certification?? Answers to these could drive price significantly higher. It appears to be an excellent car, but many questions are unanswered. GLWTA
If it's legit, it's the unicorn's unicorn...
I’ll go out on a limb and say this is an extremely odd place to list such an important car vice Sotheby’s or Gooding. Documentation of the rebuild and reason for paint lends a bit of an idea as to why.
Let me know
@mbmcrae This car was imported from Italy and is the unit previously listed by Ilusso. Still under the same ownership.
@mbmcrae you are right this seems to be the one in Newport Beach, since that is the place where the pictures where taken.
Can you provide more information on the history for this car? I believe there are 3 examples that claim to be VIN 1014.
Is this the car that was listed at Illuso in Newport Beach, Ca?
Or is this the other US example that is sitting at TopGear Imports with the same VIN
I assume this is not the third example of VIN #1014 that was carried and eventually sold by DK Engineering in UK which was painted in gulf livery for awhile. This car remains in the UK.
Happy to post links to info but PCarMarket won't allow it in this comment box.
Bid in the amount of $75,000
Bid in the amount of $45,000
Hello folks, we bring here a 1973 RS Lightweight. Beautiful car with numbers matching engine and transmission, recently inspected at Porsche Classic Center.
Bid with confidence and Good Luck !