906-001 Story

76911S · 08-05-2004, 08:23 AM

The story as I understand it.

A Gentleman from the Buffalo NY area was in Germany sometime in 65 and bought this car that had been sold by the factory. He drove it around Europe for a while than brought it home to the US where after driving it for several months found it to be impractical, so it was pretty much parked.
Several years ago a customer from a shop I used to work for was running his car #906-011 at the Glen and a gentleman started talking to him and said he had one of those. After a period of disbelieve a plan was formed to have the car look at and over a year later a deal was struck and the car went to California. The car was put on the back burner for restoration for a couple of years because of other projects and the new owner eventually lost interest. Mind you he owns and runs a number of vintage cars and his interests now lie with the prototype cars. So he decided to sell the car, and it was bought by someone from I believe Germany who did a restoration over a rather short period of time and as I understand it was not a job worthy of such a car.

The factory had began to develop a replacement for the 904 and built I believe eleven 904 bodied cars with 906 designations as test mules. 001 was raced at Le mans and several other races in 64, it still had a inspection sticker from the Targa on the windshield when it was found in Buffalo. Then the original motor was removed and the chassis was sold. There was no real record as to where the car ended up for the 30 some years, it was known as the missing 906.

I have more pictures of the car when it was found. If anyone would like to see them, just let me know.

Chuck Miller · 08-05-2004, 08:50 AM

Great pics!!!

You can check out the complete NEW restoration process on Gunnar's site...

http://www.gunnarracing.com/

Wil Ferch · 08-05-2004, 09:31 AM

Man....and I lived in Buffalo/suburbs mostly all my life.....

Where the heck WAS this car....and (sob) why couldn't I have found it ?

---Wil

barlowdo · 08-05-2004, 09:37 AM

It was parked next to the Anchor Inn - Just kidding !!!

-Don B

Wil Ferch · 08-05-2004, 10:07 AM

Anchor Inn..... ( for others)..... inventors of the famous Buffalo-style chicken wings. ( Which..btw....are very different anywhere outside of Buffalo, no matter how they're labelled)..

Wil

Carl Bauer · Carl Bauer's Garage

Gunnar stopped updating 906-001 for a few months and then when they updated it again it was w/ finished pics after I had already seen it at RRII! I guess thay were that busy. I wish they would have taken (or posted) shots of it during that gap. Anyone else notice that Varsha called it a 904-6 during the RRII show on SpeedTV? I for one would like to see all the pictures you've got of it!

targa911S · 08-05-2004, 11:04 AM

yeah it was Frank and Annies grocery getter!

jluetjen · jluetjen's Garage

Great thread!!!

76911S · 08-05-2004, 02:30 PM

Per Carl Bauer request.

Jim Garfield · 05:03 PM

Quote:
______________________________________________
As I look closer at the pictures there is a lot of difference from any 906 that I have ever seen and if someone is going to go to the time and expense to restore one of these early cars they are going to make it as close as possible to how it was originally. So my point is that since this car is not all that original looking it is most likely a clone car.
______________________________________________

Just kidding, just kidding. Sorry, I couldn't stop myself.

Interesting story, and a neat and unusual car. Hope springs eternal for that car that somebody forgot about....

Thanks.

76911S · 08-06-2004, 04:43 AM

Huh, I don’t get it!

Okay, okay, I get a little emotional over these cars sometimes.

Why does this freaking car manufacturer have this effect on us?

Carl Bauer · Carl Bauer's Garage

Thanks 76911S. It's nice to see racing cars treated as they were before they became something more valuable. I think my favorite care at RRII was that japanese 908/2... unrestored and just as last raced. Although seeing this car silver w/ the blue hood was a sight as well!

Carl Bauer · Carl Bauer's Garage

76911S · 08-06-2004, 05:10 AM

The Japanese 908 is really cool, I was at Lime Rock a few years ago when it first showed up. The story behind that car was also very neat.

When we first saw the 906 car in the ugly orange we noticed under the hood the word “blau” was written with grease pencil..

mikeferg75 · mikeferg75's Garage

cool pics, that makes two 906-001's the first prototype, the car above as I understand it. And this one, the first production 906, you guessed it serial number 001. Neat that both cars are still kicking.

KobaltBlau · 08-06-2004, 12:04 PM

Mike, I didn't notice the serial on that car but you must have been at George Maybee's gmund event as well, eh? I work in boulder.

mikeferg75 · mikeferg75's Garage

Yep, I spend most of my time at the 914club.com site, My car was the white six 914 by the house at gmund. I work in boulder as well... Pearl and sixth.

About the 906, It took me a couple of months of begging, but I finally got the owner to allow the car to be shown. Well worth it from the crowds reaction.

Ferg.

jluetjen · jluetjen's Garage

Not to start a shouting match, but everyone always raves about how the 904 is about the most beautiful Porsche ever. To me it has always had a touch of a Kelmark GT look to it -- which is really more Kelmark's fault then Porsches.

But the 906 "Fluegalmausmenschaftwagon" (AKA: Batmobile) to me has always looked the most "right" of the Porsche race cars. It's not as big and bulky as the 917's, nor as flattened as the 910's. The 906 on the other hand has those voluptious curves over the 15 inch wheels surrounding the "cleavage"

of the front deck, the swoopy "Langheck" style window over the engine and of course the batwing doors.

I still dream of one day building a 911 based kit-car style replica with a target cost of <$20K for the chassis. In all honesty, a rolling chassis shouldn't cost much more then a decent tube-framed FF or FM car, and then the body work cost will obviously be based on 906 prices.

And that's about the time when I wake up!

76911S · 08-06-2004, 12:58 PM

John,
I really dig the true 906 lines as well. We are in the minority though. I read an article about one years back and thought that was the coolest thing there was. The 910 is pretty darn close, followed by the 908/3 because of shear simplicity, super light weight and a very specific purpose.

KobaltBlau · 08-06-2004, 01:12 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by mikeferg75
About the 906, It took me a couple of months of begging, but I finally got the owner to allow the car to be shown. Well worth it from the crowds reaction.

Thank you for bringing it to us! It is a rare pleasure to see such a car.

I did not get to look at your car up close (arrived pretty late), but I heard it is quite nice.

Best Regards,