Porsche 904

The Porsche 904 sports car (officially named the Porsche Carrera GTS) was unveiled on November 26, 1963 on the Zolitude road. In 1962, the head of the company Ferdinand Porsche and technical director Hans Tomada decided to prepare several cars for racing GT class cars. The design of the sports car body was entrusted to the eldest son of the head of the company Ferdinand Butzi Porsche, who headed the design department after graduation.

In the exterior of the 904 model, he implemented the Porsche 718 Coupe outline design, completed back in 1961. Of course, the design did not 100% repeat the 718 project, but similar stylistic elements could be seen. A layout was quickly built, and then three running samples for preliminary tests. To reduce the mass of the car, the body, it was decided to make fiberglass.

Porsche had no experience working with plastic, so it was decided to place an order for the manufacture of body panels in the aircraft manufacturer Heinkel. At first, aviators only engaged in stamping, but, starting from the seventh instance, they began to produce complete bodies, glazing was installed at the plant, a dashboard was mounted, electrical wiring was laid and a fuel tank was installed. About 80 specialists worked on body assembly and produced two sets a day.

Serial production of the car was started at the end of 1963. According to the FIA ​​GT regulations, cars that had serial prototypes and were released in at least 100 copies were allowed to participate in races, so 100 cars were produced in the first series (the last was built on March 31, 1964). The first 60 cars were sold in two weeks, in general it must be said that the term "were sold" is not correct. It would be more correct to say that orders for 60 cars were issued, since at the time of the presentation of the car only the first sample was ready. Buyers were not afraid of the high price, at that time amounting to 29,700 German marks, or even the fact that a third of this amount had to be paid as a deposit, and then expect your car for several months.

Due to the increased demand for the 904 model, the company sold all one hundred copies, including even those that were planned to participate in the races - customers who had the gift of persuasion and sufficient cash so that management agreed to sell them the 904th available in the company regularly visited the company availability. I had to build an additional "second" series of 20 units. Four cars from the second series remained at the plant as a source of spare parts, but they were not dismantled, and over the years they were transferred to the Porsche Museum. Later, the company seriously considered the possibility of manufacturing another hundred copies of the 904 Carrera GTS. In 1965, it was supposed to limit itself to fifty cars with a 911S power unit. A prototype of such a car was prepared - on the basis of one of those three cars built during the development of the body shape.

The car engine was located in front of the rear axle. It was originally planned to install a 6-cylinder unit from the Porsche 901 on the car, later called the 911th, but the tuning of the motor for racing was delayed, so it was decided to put a 4-cylinder engine from 356 Carrera 2 on the 904 Carrera GTS. True, this engine underwent corresponding improvements and in the road version it developed 155 hp, which allowed the 904th to accelerate to 250 km / h. The racing version of the engine produced 180 hp. Later a 6-cylinder engine rated at 211 hp It was installed on 10 cars, and 6 cars received 220-horsepower 8-cylinder engines and reached speeds of up to 280 km / h.

The Porsche Carrera GTS turned out to be extremely lightweight, the space frame weighed only 54 kg and the plastic body panels 82 kg. The car had both independent suspension on fork arms with concentrically arranged coil springs and with adjustable shock absorbers.

• Body type: Coupe
• Length: 4090 mm
• Width: 1540 mm
• Height: 1065 mm
• Model Year: 1964
• Number of doors: 2
• Number of seats: 2
• Trunk volume: 100 liters
• Maximum speed: 250 km / h
• Acceleration to 100 km / h: 7.0 s
• Volume: 1966 cm³
• Power: 155 hp

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• The official website of Dr. Ing. hc F. Porsche AG