Porsche 924 Carrera GTS

It was quite the impressive group of upgrades, especially when considering that the ‘standard’ Carrera GTS already featured a host of performance parts like coil springs, anti-sway bars, Bilstein shock absorbers, and cross-drilled and vented dual-circuit disc brakes from the 911 Turbo. In fact, weighing in at 2337 lb, 530 lb less than a 911 Turbo, it was quite the performer as well with a 0-60 mph time of 5.2 seconds on the way to a top speed of 162 mph.

Naturally, Porsche wanted to show off their new creation. Of the 50 produced, Porsche documentation reveals that the factory retained this car, chassis number 053, as a company owned “Händler 100,” vehicle with Stuttgart license plate “S-EM 3594.” A Telefax from the Porsche Customer Racing Department to Alwin Springer of Porsche Motorsport North America dated 25 November 1997 relays that it was indeed kept by the Press Department as a demonstration vehicle and additionally notes that it was built with the uprated 2.1-liter turbo engine producing 270 horsepower. Moreover, chassis number 053 retains copies of its original 1981 German registration documents and insurance information with Porsche AG listed as the first owner. The car is also sold with its original combination owner’s manual and service book featuring a large Porsche AG stamp in the owner section and two stamps recording service in July and September of 1981 while owned by the factory.

With most of the 50 homologation cars sold by late summer, Porsche parted ways with 053 selling it to Bruce Leven of Seattle, Washington. Leven and its racing outfit Bayside Disposal Racing are well known in the motorsport community. By 1981, Leven had purchased an ex-Brumos 935 and hired Hurley Haywood as his regular co-driver, consistently running at the front of a large and competitive IMSA field. Adding Al Holbert to the team for the 1981 Sebring 12 Hours proved a canny move for Leven with the trio winning the legendary race outright, Leven’s first major win as a team owner and driver. What better way to cap off a winning racing season in a Porsche 935 than with the purchase of a brand new Porsche road car! A copy of the factory invoice included in the large history file details Leven’s purchase of 053 on 17 December 1981 with a US Customs document signaling the arrival of the car in Portland on 6 March 1982, just before Leven, Haywood, and Holbert would return to Sebring as defending champions.

Leven would later sell the car with it landing in Texas by at least the summer of 1986 with Mason Chevaillier. Chevaillier did not own the car for long before it passed to longtime racer and dealer Don Istook who sold it to Dave Maynard of Framingham, Massachusetts in 1987. Maynard was likely the first who used the car as intended, entering PCA Club Racing events at Lime Rock, Sebring, Bridgehampton, and Road Atlanta among others between 1993 and 1997. In 1997 Maynard sold 053 to Alan Friedman of Vienna, Virginia. An influential member of PCA and heavily involved with PCA Club Racing, Friedman not only continued to race 053 in PCA events until 2007, but began corresponding with Porsche’s Customer Racing Department, digging into the history of this particular car. In 2008 Friedman sold the car to Neil Primrose before it left the United States for England that summer. In England for a short time, it found a home late that fall, returning to Germany for the first time in 27 years. In 2014 053 returned to the US once again entering Phil Toledano’s growing 1980s collection of sports purpose homologation cars with servicing conducted by ROCS Motorsports of Belleville, New Jersey. Invoices total over $44,000 in maintenance work completed in that six-year span.

In 2019 it landed with Martin Lauber, an aficionado of all things Porsche transaxle with 053 sharing storage space with another of Bruce Leven’s vintage Porsches, an Al Holbert-built 924 GTR along with multiple 944 Turbo Cups. Under Lauber’s ownership, the car returned to the track as a vintage racer in HSR competition, entering The Mitty and the Classic Daytona 24. In 2019 to preserve the original numbers matching engine block, included in the sale, Lauber had a second engine built by Vintage Racing Co. of Alpharetta, Georgia utilizing components from the original motor including the cylinder head. The consignor notes that at the time of cataloging the engine has approximately three hours of run time on it. Not just a track weapon, in the summer of 2019 053 also spent time on loan at the Porsche Experience Center Atlanta’s Heritage Gallery educating visitors on the rarity and motorsports heritage of the 924 Carrera GTS model.

One of just 15 homologation 924 Carrera GTS Clubsports, this former factory press car, first owned by a Sebring winner, is a well-documented example and includes its original numbers matching engine block, copies of its original German vehicle registration, factory delivery paperwork, factory correspondence, Certificate of Authenticity, and original combination owner’s manual and service book.