For Sale: 1966 Porsche 906 in Scotts Valley, California

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1966 Porsche 906
VIN: 906-137

Campaigned by Jo Siffert, Jochen Rindt, Gerhard Mitter, Hans Herrmann, Dieter Glemser
Werks Porsche team car for first 2 races of 1966, Salzburg Porsche last two races of 1966
(2) 2nd place OA finishes, (1) 3rd place OA finish in 1966
Complete engine rebuild in 2016, extensive maintenance history
1 of 65 examples built by Porsche
The last of the street-legal race cars built by Porsche
Continual 13-year ownership by respected collector/successful historic race car driver
Eligible for historic automobile racing worldwide, including Monterey Historics, Le Mans Classic, and Porsche's Rennsport Reunion

While the Porsche 906 was a successor to Porsche's highly successful 904 GTS race cars, the 906 Carrera 6 boasted a nearly ground-up redesign with a clean sheet of paper. With development closely scrutinized by Ferdinand Piech himself in the Porsche experimental department, it was destined to succeed. In short, the Porsche 904 GTS was a culmination and ultimate expression of a racing variant of the 4-cylinder 356, while the 906 was the first racing design based on the new-to-the-world 911 street car. With a space-age tubular chassis with exceptional stiffness but maintaining ultimate lightness, it was propelled by a 210-horsepower six-cylinder engine closely related to the 911R, tightly packaged in a bespoke fiberglass body. Weighing in at just 1,235 pounds, the Carrera 6 produced a stunning power to weight ratio that would prove to be extremely competitive and began securing handfuls of victories shortly after its debut.

Only 65 examples of the 906 Carrera 6 were built, with only 52 of those sporting the 2.0L engine. With privateers behind the steering wheel, the Carrera 6 would dominate world class 2.0L endurance racing for two years, while becoming one of the most memorable racing cars in both performance and beauty of its era. Major victories in 1966 included Targa Florio, Paris Grand Prix, 4th through 7th place at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and class wins at the 24 Hours of Daytona, 12 Hours of Sebring, Spa, and Monza. Privateer teams' victories continued into 1968 as the Carrera 6, at no surprise to anyone, dominated SCCA events and national sports car races. It also represented one of the most significant moments for Porsche: it became the last street-legal race car built by the German automaker.

This 1966 Porsche 906-137 was completed in April of 1966, designated as a factory team car. The car was entered into a series of races in 1966 that included Spa 1,000km, Zeltweg 500km, Preis von Tirol (SP2.0), and Aspern (SRP). During this time the car was piloted by famous drivers Joseph Siffert, Jochen Rindt, Gerhard Mitter, Hans Herrmann and Dieter Glemser. It notched two 2nd place wins and one 3rd place win in 1966. After its official factory racing team car duties, it was sold to Porsche Salzburg (who are now famous for their 1970 24 Hours of Le Mans win in Porsche's 917K).

The 906, according to research, suggests that the car was entered into a series of hill climbs for a period of time where during this part of its career was converted to "Berg Spyder" configuration. By the end of 1970, #137 had retired from racing and remained in France, and was sold to Gerry Sutterfield, based in Lake Park, FL, in 1979. Over the years the 906 was cherished by several caretakers and restored during one of their ownerships, whereas in 2005 the 906 was sold to a private museum in Japan. The 906 would remain in this private museum collection until being acquired by its most recent caretaker, based in Arizona.

In January 2012, 906-137 was sold and was imported back into the United States. The new caretaker, a respected collector and historic race car driver within the collector car community, was not one to ignore maintenance on a valuable historic automobile. During the course of being the car's caretaker of 13 years, a long list of maintenance was performed early during their tenure in order to maintain it in excellent running order. This included:

2014 - Replacement of brake fluid reservoir hoses, rebuilding master cylinders, repairing battery master switch, new battery cables, new "jump start" battery connector, rebuilt front and rear suspension including magnaflux pieces and new thrust/roller bearings, fabricate and install new windshield, replace windshield wiper blade, replace oil pressure sensor, replace clutch assembly, repair wiring and switches, replaced fuel cell, rebuilt carburetors, setup distributors and tune, repair shift linkage, modifying safety belt mount points, change transaxle fluid, adjust valves, a leakdown test was performed, install fire suppression system, replace fuel lines and fittings, repair right side chassis tube, align chassis and corner weight car, replace battery cables, and perform an oil and filter change.

In 2016 the caretaker charged his trusted workshop that maintained all of his historic race vehicles with completely rebuilding the engine on the Porsche 906, along with some auxiliary items. During this build it included a new crankshaft, cylinders and pistons, rebuilding carburetors, main and rod bearings, rebuilding cylinder heads including new valves, seats, and guides, new camp chains, new cylinder head studs and nuts, new rocker arm shafts, chain tensioner, alternator, camshaft drive gears, camshaft chain sprockets, new valve lash caps, spark plugs, 1 new connecting rod and 5 rebuild connecting rods. The tachometer was also repaired. A dyno test was performed at the end of the build confirming a healthy and strong engine perfect for racing.

Between 2016 and present regular services were performed including regular oil changes with filters, and other auxiliary items that arose such as new oil hoses, repairing the brake cooling ducts, installing an oil temperature gauge, and brake fluid flushes.

All of this work was performed in order to keep 906-137 in race-ready condition, and was entered multiple times in various racing events, including the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion, hosted each year at the famous Laguna Seca raceway in Monterey, CA.

Now publicly available for the first time in decades, Porsche 906-137 represents an interesting time for Porsche's past. With only 65 examples of these cars ever built, it is often rare to see one on the race track. More importantly, it is Porsche's last prototype street car that could be registered for regular traffic duty. With its unique racing history, limited production, excellent maintenance history, exceptional driving dynamics, and eligibility for historic automobile racing worldwide, including Monterey Historics, Le Mans Classic, and Porsche's Rennsport Reunion, this 1966 Porsche 906 is a racing legend for the race tracks or the streets.