BACKGROUND TO THE PORSCHE 901
The Porsche 356 was in production from the late 1940s, and by the early 1960s, a change was needed. The lightweight, nimble, rear-engine, rear-wheel drive, two-door was offered in both hardtop coupe and open configurations. Over nearly two decades of production, approximately 76,000 examples of the Porsche 356 were built.
Creating a replacement for the venerable 356 was a delicate and important endeavor, one that was preceded by years of development. Several prototypes were built from 1959 to 1961, with the Type 695 T-7 four-seater having the closest design shape to the forthcoming replacement.
The new car was called the 901 and introduced at the Frankfurt Motorshow in September 1963. After several additional months, the cars were ready for sale to customers. French carmaker Peugeot objected to Porsche using any three-digit number where the middle number was 0, claiming ownership of the naming rights as they had sold many models with that scheme. Instead of selling their new model with a different name in France, Porsche’s solution was to replace the middle 0 with a 1 and called the car Porsche 911.
The Porsche 901 was based on a 356 unitary structure with a new front suspension comprised of a lower wishbones and strut-type coil springs over damper unit. The rear trailing arms suspension of the 356 was modified and adapted for the 901. Disc brakes from the 356C provided the stopping power. Ferri ‘Butzi’ Porsche created the 901 design and many of its design cues would continue to be used in future generations.
The Type 745 2-litre flat six-cylinder engine was created for the 901, with overhead camshafts that eliminated the need for pushrods. Two Solex carburetors helped the air-cooled engine produce 130 horsepower.
Between September 14 of 1963 and November 16 of 1964, 82 examples of the 901 were built. An additional 150 examples were built in 1964 and labeled as 911s.
FACTORY CARDEX
Chassis Number: 300174
Chassis Number #300174 was completed at Stuttgart, Zuffenhausen on the 8th December 1964 and was supplied new as a Left Hand Drive model on the 8th January 1965 via German Porsche dealer MAHAG, Munich to its first owner a Mr Herbert Ritter.
It was origionally presented in the most desirable colour combination, Slate Grey (6401) body colour over Red Leatherette, the seats were originally trimmed with Houndstoth insert.
All 1964 901/911’s were supplied in Porsche 356 colours.
In 1967 chassis number 300174 was purchased by a US Servicemen based in Germany, three years later both he and the Porsche were relocated back to the US. Shortly after his return to US he sold the car to the third owner, Chuck Rizzo of Pennsylvania.
Chuck remembers the car very well and was kind enough to share lots of stories about the car during his ownership.
In 2010 Magnus Walker nicknamed the Urban Outlaw went in search of the Holy Grail of all Porsche 911’s searching around the world for a Type 901/911. After 2 years searching he was notified of a cool unmolested, very original car in Pennsylvania, he jumped on a plane and 8 hours later the car was heading back to his LA warehouse.
The car has not been driven/hasn’t been on the road since 1978 and will require a full, sympathetic and accurate restoration back to factory specification. Originality is the key when restoring such an important vehicle so every original part must be inspected and rebuilt/restored and put back on the car.
This original matching numbers engined car has to be one of the most original unrestored 1964 examples still in existence retaining all of its unique 901/911 parts along with the most amazing interior. The fact this is THE best colour combination and is currently owned by one of the world’s most Iconic Porsche icons this would be a significant car to add to any collection.
Chassis Number 300174 would gain invites to all of the world leading concours car events.
