Background
The Porsche works rally team’s appearances were successful if sporadic beginning with the 356 then the 911. Their most successful period occurred in the late 1960s when they enjoyed three consecutive wins on the Monte Carlo Rally beginning in 1968 with Vic Elford and Pauli Toivonen, and in 1969 and 1970 with Björn Waldegård and Gérard Larrousse. A further win on the Monte Carlo Rally was achieved by Jean-Pierre Nicolas in 1978, with Jean-Luc Thérier claiming first place on the Tour de Corse in 1980.
Porsche’s real rally successes came on national series, with a string of rally wins and championship titles being won in France, Spain, Belgium, Germany and Austria.
With the arrival of the Group B era, Porsche knew that the chance of success with the 911 was limited so they set about creating the 959 a four-wheel drive twin turbo supercar. It was anticipated that the 959 would be homologated in early 1985, although homologation for the World Rally Championship was never achieved as the first road cars were not available until 1987, a year after Group B was cancelled.
In the interim period Porsche homologated a high performance version of the 911 SC called the SC RS. The basic 911 SC was homologated into Group B in early 1983, with the SC RS following in time for the 1984 season. Under the management of Prodrive, Henri Toivonen achieved 2nd place in the European Rally Championship, whilst Saeed al Hajri went one better finishing 1st in the Middle Eastern Championship.
This Car
This car was owned from new until 2013 by Per Eklund. Its best result was achieved on the 1000 Lakes Rally of 1978 where it originally finished in 3rd place but was subsequently relegated to 4th after receiving a time penalty for being caught speeding on a road section. This was the very first points won by Porsche on gravel in the World Rally Championship, a very significant event. The car was sponsored by the “Happy People”, which was a unique sponsor for that car.
The car was then used at National Championship level with a good degree of success, in rallies like the Hunsruck in 1979 before being used by Per on the 1981 Swedish Rally, were in spite of being an old car, he finished 9th sponsored by Publimmo, and 1981 Rally of 1000 Lakes, unfortunately it failed to finish due to mechanical problems.
The car was also used on some rallycross events (famously as the white Clarion car) and therefore with the car came 935 style front fenders, polyester front and rear bumper, and bonnet. Following its rallycross escapades the car was retired and put on display in a car museum local to Per.
In the late 1990s Per decided to restore the car and enter the European Historic Rally Championship. The engine and gearbox were sent to Porsche specialist Francis Tuthill in the UK for a rebuild. Meanwhile Per’s original mechanics began stripping the bodyshell to bare metal repairing the battle scars of competition, but carefully retaining all the original panels. Per never managed to complete the project due to the work commitments of running a X Games team in the States, and so after 35 years of ownership by Per the car was sold to its current owner in 2013 who completed the restoration with Per’s help by June 2014.
Technical
Engine : Flat inline six cylinder, rear mounted, two valves per cylinder, 250 bhp
Induction : Twin Webber Carburettors, Normally Aspirated
