1964 Porsche 904

POA

During the first half of the 1960s, the World Sports Car Championship was contested by GT machinery rather than sports-racers or prototypes, and while the Ferrari 250 GTO and Shelby Cobra went head-to-head for honours in the large-capacity class, the 2-litre category was dominated by Porsche.

For the 1964 season, the German marque introduced its new mid-engined 904. Powered by the latest 1966cc development of the four-cam Carrera flat-four engine, the lightweight 904 featured a glassfibre body that was designed by ‘Butzi’ Porsche and bonded to the steel chassis.

Homologation rules demanded that 100 cars needed to be built in a 12-month period, which Porsche managed to achieve, and the 904 was instantly competitive. In 1964, it not only took class wins at – among others – Sebring, Le Mans, Spa and the Nürburgring, it also scored overall victory in that year’s Targa Florio on its way to claiming the 2-litre World Championship.

It repeated that success in 1965, and the 904 proved its versatility by finishing second on that year’s Monte Carlo Rally in the hands of Eugen Böhringer and Rolf Wütherich. Porsche also built a small number of 904/6s, which were equipped with a development of the 911’s 2-litre flat-six engine.

Chassis number 035 was completed on 25 February 1964 as a four-cylinder 904 and delivered to Swiss driver Hansueli Eugster, who’d previously raced a succession of Porsches. Eugster’s first outing with ‘035’ was in a Swiss Championship race at Monza in May, and he won his class.

He returned to Monza that September for the Coppa Inter-Europa and finished fifth in the 2-litre category, then followed that with fourth in class at Innsbruck in the Preis von Tirol. Eugster’s 1964 season came to an end with a trip to the Angola Grand Prix, which was held on a street circuit in Luanda and attracted a strong European entry.

Sadly, the 904 failed to finish after Eugster spun out, and he then used it sparingly as a road car before selling it in 1967 to Swiss-Italian racer Gildo de Guidi. He successfully campaigned it throughout that season in circuit races and hillclimbs in Austria, Switzerland, Italy and Germany, and won his class in October’s Hockenheim 3 Hours.

De Guidi also took the 904 to the famous Ollon-Villars hillclimb, where he finished eighth in class, before selling it in 1968 to Felix Laubscher in Switzerland. Laubscher retained the Porsche until 1993, when he sold it to Ulrich Senn, and two years later it was acquired by collector and historic racer Peter Glaesel.

In 2000, Glaesel sold the 904 to Fritz Kozka, who entered it for that year’s Tour Auto. Subsequent owners included Peter Wirichs and Jean-Claude Castelain, and the car has been campaigned at blue-riband historic events such as the Le Mans Classic and Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique.

By early 2008, the Porsche had been converted into 904/6 specification thanks to the installation of a six-cylinder engine. It remains in that configuration today, and the engine was rebuilt in 2021.

Offered with an FIA Historic Technical Passport that’s valid until 2028 and a spares package that includes the original seat inserts and a spare set of wheels, this beautiful road-racer evokes a golden period in the marque’s illustrious competition history.