It’s an original 1987 Porsche race car with a 3.2-liter flat six and a massive single turbocharger. What more could you want?
Collecting Cars
In the late 80s, the Porsche 962 was an apex predator. The 956’s replacement showed up five years into a record seven-year winning streak at Le Mans, immediately hitting the ground running to win the 1986 and 1987 races. Derek Bell alone won 21 races with 962s in a three-year stretch at the car’s peak, and it remained competitive for so long that a modified 962 entered as a GT car won Le Mans again in 1994. That makes any 962 collectible. This car, an IMSA-spec 962 that competed just three times before being retired from competition, is another level above.
Collecting Cars
This 962 was fielded by Bob Akin in the 1987 season, where it ran in three sprint races. Despite running relatively few races, it was driven at different times by both 1983 Le Mans winner Vern Schuppan, and three-time Le Mans winner Hurley Haywood. It was never crashed in its heyday and has been tracked primarily as a historic racer in the decades since.
Collecting Cars
Like many 962s, it does not actually include the original Porsche tub. This car is built around Jim Chapman’s design, one of the earliest of many different privately-designed 962 variant tubs built to improve on concerns about chassis stiffness that held back the original car. As the 962 was both exceptional as a race car and modular enough to stay exceptional with major parts moved in and out by privateers, much of the 962’s success came as a result of changes like this.
Collecting Cars
As IMSA did not allow twin turbocharging when the 962 debuted, this car’s 3.2-liter flat six instead has one massive single turbocharger. It produces just under 600 horsepower, more than enough for a car that weighed under 2,000 pounds in its heyday. That goes through a manual transmission, with the gear selector mounted between the driver’s seat and the door in the fashion of a car that raced at Le Mans.
This 962 is listed on Collecting Cars, where the bidding is up to $420,569 with just over a day remaining. In terms of both original racing history and recent track time, this is as close to a low-mileage original example as you will find in a trackable historic race car.
Keyword: Buy This Porsche 962 and Take It Racing Immediately