Rare Porsche 904/6 Carrera for sale

As we've opined on Top Gear in the past - especially Jeremy - car design really reached a zenith in the 1960s; the era of the Ferrari 250 GTO and Ford GT, to name a notable pair. Judging by the beauty you see above, even Porsche got swept away with the headiness of the era with its 904/6 Carrera GTS.

A Porsche 904/6 Carrera GTS which you now have the option of purchasing, thanks to the good folks over at RM. It's headed for the auction block at next month's Monterey sale in California, and you might want to suddenly stumble across large amounts of Dollar.

This is principally for two main reasons. The first is obvious: it's gorgeous. The 904 debuted in 1963 as the successor to the RS61, itself a descendant of the 718 ‘RSK' and 550. But where its predecessors carried an eager, boisterous charm to their appearance, the 904 got seriously sexy.

It featured a space-frame construction with steel rails attached to the front and rear suspension, an alloy body with ‘un-stressed' panels, and a fully bonded and very tough GRP coupe shape fastened on top. It was also a featherweight too; race-prepped four-cylinder 904s weighed in at around 600kg.

This particular car, chassis number 906-002, is the second of Porsche's factory team cars out of six in total, and features the original 2.0-litre six-cylinder engine producing 200bhp. It has been completely restored, is fully documented from new - including a complete lineage of owners from Porsche AG through a US Air Force Major to its current owner in Mexico City - and has proper racing pedigree too.

Oh, and that second reason? It was the second car designed by Ferdinand Alexander Porsche, or ‘Butzi', as he was affectionately known. He was the grandson of Ferdinand Porsche, whose first car you might also recognise: the original Porsche 911. Sadly though, he passed away earlier this year, and thus you must honour his memory and find that money. How much will you need? Between £1.1m and £1.4m ($1.8m - $2.2m)...

Photos: Pawel Litwinski © 2012 courtesy RM Auctions

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