The Car Spy

Often described as the most definitive 911 ever produced by Porsche, the Carrera 2.7 RS was created as an homologation special and the initial 500 examples were sold within a week of the car’s international debut at the 1972 Paris Show. In order to satisfy the overwhelming public demand for the car an additional 1080 examples were produced and it is believed that only 117 were built in right hand drive form.

It was the first 911 to bear the RS moniker and its lean, purposeful stance was complemented with a rear boot-mounted duck-tail spoiler and extra wide rear arches. The RS was designed to do a specific job and provided a driver experience that was hard to match amongst the car’s contemporaries and even today is acknowledged as being probably the best of a succession of RS models from Zuffenhausen to appear in latter decades.

With its minimalist design and without any fripperies to blunt its performance the RS’s 2.7-litre flat-six powerplant developed a healthy 210 bhp which was enough to propel the lightweight body (which weighed less than 1000 kg) to 60 mph in under 6 seconds.

The right hand drive RS evocation we have here originated as a 911E and was converted to RS spec by racing driver Bob Berridge to race in the 1980’s using Porsche OEM parts which were freely available at that time.  (more…)