Marvel at this brand new ratty old Porsche 911 RSR

Woah! Hold back with the criticism cruel naysayer. This ratty-looking Porsche may look old, but it’s actually brand new; having only done ten kilometres since it rolled out of the factory in 1993 before being posted into a barn and left forever. Well, until someone recently pulled it back out of the barn and gave it to RM Sotheby's to go under the hammer at Villa Erba next month.

Pictures: Tim Scott

It is. A 964 RSR: one of the rarest, most hardcore 911s to ever come out of Zuffenhausen. With only 51 examples built, this Turbo-bodied racing version of the Carrera RS is something that gets Porschephiles weak at the knees.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯. From what we know, this limited-production 911 vanished straight into a private collection where someone obviously had an aversion to driving. Or, had ‘appreciating assets’ listed as their favourite hobbies on their Match.com profile. It’s not been driven in over 25 years, and under all that barn find loam it’s still covered with anti-rust Cosmoline coating from the factory.

A 3.8-litre air-cooled six-cylinder (that’s the type M64/04 RSR-specific lump, for you nerds). This dry-sumped, single-ignition engine developed 350 horsepower and 284 foot-pounds of torque at the time, all fed through an uprated five-speed transaxle manual. But given that it hasn’t moved in 25 years, we’re guessing some of the hoses and seals have seen better days. 

Well, everyone claimed that Porsche’s power and performance figures were conservative. So when on a dyno back in the day, it actually produced 375bhp. And Car and Driver magazine saw off 0–60 mph in 3.7 seconds, which at the time was quicker than a Ferrari F40.

Isn’t it just? The same red you’d experience if you dived headfirst into a whale’s innards. This particular RSR was a special order with Polar Silver paint enveloping that Can Can Red leather. It was also one of two race-derived RSRs with a fully trimmed interior.

Fully trimmed. This 964 has the supportive competition seats (whose rear panels were painted body colour) leather wrapped, plus the headliner, upper and lower dashboard, steering column, steering wheel and door caps. Even the extensive bolt-in roll cage was wrapped in that gregarious red. There was even carpeting, and the six-point Schroth racing harnesses were colour-matched, while the silver-faced instruments were surrounded with silver-grey leather, as were the door pulls.

So do we. Another bespoke option that saw the centres of the wide Speedline three-piece wheels finished in Amethyst Metallic, while the callipers for the huge disc brakes were painted gold. 

RM Sotheby's haven’t listed an estimated value. But given the prices for old school air-cooled Porsches seems to be plucked out of thin air nowadays, expect it to be a big number. If you’re lucky, they may even give it a wash beforehand.