THE MILLION DOLLAR 916
’70s mid-engine slot car comes of age
The 914’s sometime reputation as the ginger stepchild of the Porsche back catalogue never really made sense. Now it has surely been blown out of the water, past next Tuesday and out of sight forever. Because in August this six-pot 914 derivative, the 916, sold for just under $1 million – or $957,000 (including fees), to be precise – at an RM Sotheby’s auction in Monterey, California.
While the 916 in any form is a rare beast with just 10 produced, this particular 916 was rarer still, thanks to its first owner. Chassis number 914.233.0011, it was the first of the 1972 series and according to its Kardex it was also a Privatwagen constructed for the personal use of Louise Piëch. Who she, you cry? None other than Ferdinand Piëch’s sister, of course. Piëch, we need hardly point out, was Ferdinand Porsche's grandson.
Anyway, Frau Piëch took delivery on July 23, 1971 and held on to the 916 until 1973, when the car was sold to Erna Götten, a Porsche engineer. Photographs of ‘0011’ during Götten’s tenure show the car ontrack with her behind the wheel. In March 1978, the car was offered for sale in Auto Motor und Sport magazine for 35,000 DM. But Götten eventually managed to unload the 916 to Los Angeles Times Publisher Otis Chandler for $30,000 on July 3, 1979. Serious money, back then. In today’s money that’s well over $100,000.
The car next appeared in Japan, the prize of exotic car and art collector Yoshiho Matsuda. Matsuda began liquidating his museum collection just before the turn of the millennium and so the 916 returned to the US. Californian Kerry Morse snagged the car in 1999 and sold it in 2008 to Dr. Thomas Gruber, who has held the car ever since.in 2009 Dr. Georg Konradsheim assisted Gruber in undertaking a comprehensive mechanical and cosmetic restoration.
The shell was primed and painted the original colour of Light Yellow. The engine, which had never been disassembled, was rebuilt, ditto the transaxle, suspension, brakes and electrics. New leather was applied throughout the interior, though the original fabric seat inserts were retained. As an indication of how thorough the restoration was, Konradsheim and Gruber carefully documented the project in a detailed, limited-edition book published in 2019, a copy of which accompanies this car.
That work was completed in 2011 and the car has been driven a mere 800km since. It now rests on precisely 56,412km. Fair, then, to say, this 916 is a teensy weensy bit of a garage queen. As one of the later built 916s, it sports a 210hp 2.7 flat six. Yep, just like the iconic 911 2.7 RS. Add in the fact that the 916 was around 80kg lighter than a contemporary 911S and you can begin to understand why this 914based beast commanded such a huge price.