Mallett’s mental meanderings
A TRIP TO THE PARIS-BASED RETROMOBILE CLASSIC CAR SHOW REAWAKENS MALLETT’S DESIRE FOR A 904, WHILE AN ALL-NEW FLATEIGHT ENGINE GETS HIM POSITIVELY SALIVATING!
My last column had a 904 theme running through it and, after my recent visit to Retromobile (see page 58), this one also seems to have got stuck in a 904 groove. No excuses as, along with many others, I think that the 904 is the most beautiful of all Porsches. As I toured the show one stand that demanded more than a casual glance was that of what I first took to be one of the many ‘replica’ makers. In one respect I was correct, but this particular replica turned out not to be the car but the engine and an astonishing achievement.
The old saying ‘what man has made man can make again’ is an adage that classic car collector and racer Didier Cazeaux took to heart when he commissioned a new Porsche 2-litre Type 771 eight-cylinder engine for his 904 – and when I say new I mean brand new in every part.
The two Hans, Hönick and Mezger, developed versions of Porsche’s flat-8 engine in parallel, a Type 753, 1500cc motor for their Formula One car, and the 2-litre Type 771 for sports car events. The 2litre engine beat the F1 engine into competition by two weeks, sitting behind Dan Gurney in a W-RS Spyder in the 1962 Targa Florio and pumping out 210bhp. The 753 engine’s debut was at the Dutch Grand Prix and Dan Gurney scored the engine’s only win later in the year at the French Grand Prix.
In 1964 the 904’s capacious engine bay was filled by the 771 ‘eight’ when two works cars appeared at the Nürburgring and Le Mans – neither finished but were timed at 175 mph. The 771 motor raced on in the 906, 907, 909 and 910 until at least 1968.
It seems that Cazeaux is lucky enough to own an eight-cylinder 904 (in which he has competed at the Goodwood Festival of Speed) for which, as you can imagine, spares are as rare as rocking horse droppings. At some point it struck him that there might be a few others in his predicament and that it would be worth remanufacturing some parts.
This idea grew like Topsy and he commissioned VLTS Engineering, based in Eppingen, Baden-württemburg, southern Germany, to reverse engineer an entire engine, all 2500 components. The task involved creating 3D images, metallurgy analysis and research and took three years to complete. The finished engine is put together by Heritage Classic Engines SA and apparently takes 300–400 hours to assemble! The astonishing result was evident on the Heritage Classic Engines SA stand where you could place an order for the 2020 season. I didn’t ask the price!
I also dropped in at the Rm/sothebys auction at Les Invalides, Place Vauban, and held to coincide with Retromobile. Call me old fashioned (or not so well off) but I still can’t get to grips with people paying millions for old bangers that when I commenced on my own automotive Odyssey in the mid 1960s could be bought for hundreds, or at the most the very low thousands, of pounds.
There seemed to be a disproportionately large number of older men milling around attired more appropriately for a teenager, in pastel shaded leggings and in the company of young women not that long out of their own teens and who seemed much too familiar to be their daughters. I suppose that when ‘boys’ are prepared to pay millions for their toys, the ‘girls’ will also like to join in the fun.
The auction had a German theme this year and a very fine 904, chassis number 904-061, featured amongst the attractions. It left the factory in March 1964 for the Glöckler agency in Frankfurt. (Walter Glöckler was one of the first Volkswagen agents and in 1950 became a Porsche dealer, too. Famously he also built his own race cars based on VW and Porsche mechanicals inspiring Porsche to build their own 550 Spyder.) As delivered the 904 was Signal Red with a blue cloth interior. In September that year it was sold to a Portuguese with 6500kms on the clock and in 1969 it moved on to France, where it competed in the Tour de France and at Montlhéry, as well as several other events.
In the late 1990s the car was in the hands of an enthusiast and collector who had the car repainted silver and fitted with black upholstery. During the restoration the original fourcam engine was found to be damaged and was replaced by a period-correct, magnesium-cased, twin-plug Type 906 two-litre six-cylinder motor. In 2007 the last owner decided to restore the 4-cam but not to fit it.
Still with only 24,000 kms on the clock and sitting in the auction venue alongside the four-cam and a spare set of wheels, and with a more luxurious road-going trim featuring cream leather seats, it had this old bloke salivating. I wasn’t of course the only chap impressed as some feverish bidding saw the car exceed its pre-auction top estimate, selling for €1,917,500 – which was almost exactly 1000 times more than the 904 I didn’t buy in 1971. (See my column in the last issue for details.) Non, je ne regret rien. Says he!
If after all this 904 chatter you might be keen on getting one for yourself, at the time of writing another lovely example shown at Retromobile is still for sale with French dealer, ‘Historic Cars’. Have fun.
“NON, JE NE REGRET RIEN. SAYS HE…”