Porsche 917 - am I crazy?

Just a quick update on the 917 for sale in Austria. The seller provided me with a 26 pgs document about the car and we also spoke today where he told me more about the unique background of the car. To cut a long story short the current asking price is EUR 325k (no typo) and please do not blame me for stating this number which might sound insane for most of you. Not being an expert at all I can't judge whether this makes sense or not. Btw, there was a reason for stating only 180k in that magazine coverage I had mentioned above. Fact is that they put in tremendous efforts in building this car and besides the 1974 917 of Herbert von Karajan (a famos Austrian conductor) this is and will be the one and only street legal 917 replica in Austria which was achieved in close cooperation and approval of the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart. The car is also signed by Hans Meztger (claimed to be the father of the 917) and Helmut Marko, driver of the original car No 22. The car is used regularly for events sponsored by Porsche and others simply becaurse the original must not be moved anymore because of its magnesium frame. This car is ready to be raced without limitation and according to the seller it stands out from most other replicas in many aspects. It's also not a standard Kraftwerkz rolling chassis but rather a very bespoke one. It took from 2004 until 2008 to build the rolling chassis which was completed within another 7 months by Austrian expert Toni Weissenböck / Weitec Tuning.

Thomas
 

Fran Hall RCR

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I know of a turnkey minus RCR 917 for sale and I also know of a full turnkey (not RCR) both are considerably cheaper than the above mentioned car...

Neither are actively being advertised contact me via email if interested...
 
325k Euro, you could just about afford an original 962 for that money!! Although I can understand how something bespoke could add up to that sort of figure if you factor in time.
 
Chris ;
This is a good thing if it can be sale at that price !!!325 k !! so our cars will make nice value in the future !!!
Just have them ' signed for" by some kind "Le mans driver" after good lunch and some beers !!!!
I can organise that for yours as soon as you are done ; LOL
 
David Piper, Willi Kausen, Jurgen Barth, Harald Deitcher, Brian Redman, Jackie Oliver, Derek Bell, Richard Attwood, etc, have all put their signature on my 917, so does that make my car even more valuable ?? My car has a full and continuing race history(first replica 917 to race in world at Spa 6 hour meeting 2005) is officially backed by, and used for publicity by Gulf Oil UK, but nobody wanted to give me a £100,000 for it when offered for sale last year.

The LMK Martini 917 has had a lot of time and money put into it, but it is far from original looking in so many ways. Having a price tag of 325,000 euros is one thing, achieving it, is another. What I will say though is the cost of building a 917 replica is not in the body or chassis. It is in everything else, if you wish to follow anywhere near the original looks or concept !!
Can be raced without limitation ?? It does not have HTP papers, nor could it ever get them, so it is handicapped just as any other non specific replica would be, including mine.

Michel has by far and away the most fantastic and original build of any of the genre, but it is a much easier car to get correct, especially in the engine, gearbox and suspension departments and also to get road registered. It is far more user friendly.

I think we must all be carefull of saying too much about what things are worth. We all build things in different ways and we all have very differing budgets and time scales. No one is producing "off the shelf" correct parts for these cars to be made in one complete format.
The only "given"is that a 917 build is going to be costly and time absorbing !!!!!!!!
 
Agree 100/100 with you Graham !! Well said and writed !! :laugh:

.... and many thanks for your nice compliment about my 907/8 :shy:

Coming back to the thread ; the question was Porsche 917 - am I crazy ?
No , not at all nowadays it's possible but just as Graham is writing it's just a question to know that you will need to invest time and money in doing your own project based on watever brand of kit .... but just do it or have it done for you because trying to buy an fully finished car you fall down on what we are debating ; real value of the thing !!! and you can notice that there are so many different positions and thougths about the value of these things due to their "history" .
So to me the best if some one does not feel to be enought skilled to built one is to choice someone ( or some company ) serious to the point to evaluate only labor and parts quotation ( depending on how close you want to be to the real ) and not add any crazy amount because that car will be a "917" ( Dream of many people watching at you when you will drive her )
 
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Chris ;
This is a good thing if it can be sale at that price !!!325 k !! so our cars will make nice value in the future !!!
Just have them ' signed for" by some kind "Le mans driver" after good lunch and some beers !!!!
I can organise that for yours as soon as you are done ; LOL

I have no intention of defending the car's price tag (I personally think it's to much as well) but it would have been good to see you responding to the other facts I mentioned, e.g. the fact that independent of the high quality of the work this is and will be the only road legal 917 in Austria (which is not important for a foreign buyer but still, unique things follow different rules). Of course it is not the signatures which add any value, I just mentioned that as an add on and by the way, Helmut Marko is not only "some Le Mans driver" but won Le Mans in the original car No 22 in 1971 (shortly before an accident ended his active career in 1972).
And Michel, as you seem so well conneted, I would be more than happy if you could organize a Jackie Ickx signature on my GT40 (I can send you a transparent sticker as this will make things easier although he is also a regular guest of the Ennstal Classic in Austria so it might even work on-site).

Cheers

Thomas
 
Graham,
Are you at Zandvoort this weekend for the Historic 3 day event.
Eddie.

Eddie,

Sadly no.

It is such a shame that there are such stringent noise regulations at Zandvoort. Do they ever have "noisy" days there now, or are they all silenced nowadays ?
 
HALLO THOMAS.BUT I ALSO HAVE A AUSTRIA REGISTRED 917REPLIKA WITH 1979 HISTORIC PLATES.SO THAT MAKES IT ALLREADY 2.AND BTW IT WOULD BE FOR SALE FOR ABOUT 1/3 OF THIS PRICE:laugh:
 
HALLO THOMAS.BUT I ALSO HAVE A AUSTRIA REGISTRED 917REPLIKA WITH 1979 HISTORIC PLATES.SO THAT MAKES IT ALLREADY 2.AND BTW IT WOULD BE FOR SALE FOR ABOUT 1/3 OF THIS PRICE:laugh:

Stop under-cutting the 917 market, it is worth at least that same price :p
 
HALLO THOMAS.BUT I ALSO HAVE A AUSTRIA REGISTRED 917REPLIKA WITH 1979 HISTORIC PLATES.SO THAT MAKES IT ALLREADY 2.AND BTW IT WOULD BE FOR SALE FOR ABOUT 1/3 OF THIS PRICE:laugh:

Hallo retour! Do you know the owner of the Martini car? I am sure you have seen the 7 pages coverage in Autrorevue in 2011. If not I can send it to you via PM. As I have nothing to do with this sale except for the fact that I tried to sit in the car when I was picking up my GT40 this June I will refrain from promoting it (just thought I tell Trevor about it) as the whole issue about quality and authenticity seems to be quite controversial ;-)

Beste Gruesse aus Klosterneuburg wo ich sogar noch das Wunschkennzeichen WU-GT40 ergattern konnte
 
Hello Thomas
It will be a pleasure to ask Jackie Ickx to sign some sticker for you ; you have to know that in years 1976 I had a small company building model cars and was very close friend to Martini racing team (lucky to be amateur photografer for them ) and one day a close Jakie friend and him self where asking me to built only for them a special limited serie of his winning Spa 670 Matra ( so I did ) and I had the big opportunity to deliver 50 of these models directly to Jakie Ickx house !
From then when occasionaly we meet he never forget this and we have some quick nice world about that .... so if you are present during maybe one next Le mans classic with your sticker in hand or even the hatch of your front bonnet GT40... and we have the opportunity to meet him , I can easily ask him to sign that for you.
And I will be really very proud to make you happy with this for your car

Cheers

For your knowledge this is a very hold pic ( Le mans ( Starting grid) 1976 Jacky Icxk introducing me to Jochen Mass and explaining him that I was offering 935 Martini Hand made models to every one in the team )

Apologise again to thread Starter my "Post Hacking"
Beg pardon !! ( will not do again )
 

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Michel, great story and thanks for your generous offer. As a newbie in this field I did not yet attend any of these events but I was planning to visit Goodwood FOS next summer (could not make it this year). I will send you a PM suggesting a way how the sticker exchange could work.

Thanks Thomas
 
Hi all

Wanted to jump back into the topic of 917 ownership. Since the last time I posted I've been in touch with Peter Bailey and also a shipping agent to get full cost breakdown of the car and the cost of getting it over to the UK.

My current situation is that if I am to buy a 917 then my Aston Martin V8 Vantage has to go first so it's been booked in for MOT this week and service at the start of September with the view of getting it in tip top condition for a new owner.

Once that car has gone I hope to place an order with Peter. If everything were to go to plan (not that these things do) then I'll be buying a turnkey minus car and having an engine fitted over here in the UK. Once the car is fully built I've found a company based at a local race circuit that offer storage and transportation to and from other circuits in the UK and europe for dedicated track days so thinking that I could keep the car with them during the summer seasons and then have the car back at home for the winter or whenever work is required.

I'll hopefully have more info in the coming weeks. Also thanks to Thomas for taking the time to find out information on the Martini car that he saw for sale.
 
Glad to see this thread brought back to life. Its a great read. Like the Professor, curious to hear if Trev took the plunge after all the warnings. If not mistaken the stunning replica 917 being sold for 380 Euro's is still available after checking their web-site.

I'm still shaking out my couch and checking my trouser pockets for any misplaced money!

What a nice car that is. Lets hear from you Trev.
 
Hi all

I looked long and hard at the 917, had quotes for shipping and with the pound so strong against the rand I very nearly bought one. However I had a couple of other cars on my dream list at the time and ultimately decided that as amazing as the 917 would be it would only ever be a track car with very limited use. I also considered a Lamborghini Gallardo super trofeo race car as an alternative track car but just couldn't face the idea of only being able to drive either car on a track during the warm months of the year.

Ultimately Bailey make a really good product at a price that is fairly competitive against other replicas but it just wasn't for me at that time.

Instead I opted to buy a 1967 series 1 jaguar e-type FHC. While not really comparable to a 917 they are another car I had lusted over for a long time and with prices on the rise I thought it was either now or never. It's like driving a piece of art that I can enjoy whenever the mood takes me and despite having my first breakdown just yesterday every journey is a joy,

Sorry to disappoint you guys, if I had the money to buy both I'd have one in my garage now.
 
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