The Porsche 904, officially promoted as Carrera GTS, was a race- and street-car built by the Porsche KG. It was produced between 1963 and 1965 and could be used both, as a street car and a race car.
The Porsche 904 was used as a works car for the Championship of makes from 1964 until 1966 by the Porsche racing team. In 1963 developed the 904 followed the Porsche 718. Beside the Porsche racing team a lot of privat drivers were using the 904 for racing. To get the homologation of the FISA one hundred cars has to be built, but because of so many orders of private teams finally one hundred and sixteen 904 were produced.
The Porsche KG took a special eye on low costs while the developing process. That made the race car very attractive for private race teams. The selling price was only 29.700 DM.
Porsche produced also additional parts for 4 cars, they would be used as spare parts in case of an accident or if anything was damaged or destroyed in any other way.
The name 904 was only for internal use. Peugeot has the worldwide rights of using three numbers with a zero in the middle for street cars, so Porsche had to name the car in public Porsche Carrera GTS because it could be used as a street car also.
The car was designed by Ferdinand Alexander Porsche, he also had designed the 911, and it is the last one with the four-cylinder-boxer-engine. The construction of the car was a combination of steel and laminated plastic. This was a milestone in building cars for the Porsche KG. And this was the reason for the low costs of the car.
The bodywork was mounted in fibreglass and with the simply steel frame the car was very light. The two seater Coupé has a mid mounted engine in front of the rear axle. To realize a better balance of weight the fuel tank (110 l), the spare wheel and the oil cooler were mounted in the front of the car.
The first cars ran with the 4-cylinder engine, but there was a developing over the years with a 6-cylinder and finally with an 8-cylinder engine with 2.2 l and 270 bhp. The cars were named by the company Porsche 904/6 for the 6-cylinder- and 904/8 for the 8-cylinder-engine.
The Porsche 904 Carrera GTS was very successful over the years. At all races and series the car was entered it was very competitive and reliable. Famous races and tracks build the stage for this beautiful race car. At the 1000 KM at the Nürburgring or the 24h of Le Mans , the 904 were always performing very well and great drivers of their time took place in its cockpit. Jo Bonnier, Jochen Rindt, Edgar Barth, Herbert Linge, Umberto Maglioli, Guy Ligier, Gerhard Mitter and many more raced the Porsche 904 Carrera GTS.
I love this car, I love the shape and the elegance of this Porsche. The shape reminds a bit of the Ferrari Dino, but it is sharper and much more straight. The perfect look for a sports car. It is very small compared to other cars of this time. The first build cars were only available in silver, later on they would be painted in white and other colors. But silver is my favorite color for the 904.
When a 904 arrives at a historic motor racing event I am very delighted. Maybe it reminds me of my childhood. When I was about six or seven years old me and my brother get a Hot Wheel Track as a Christmas present. There was a blue and a red car with the track. My brother wanted to have the red one, I think it was a Ferrari, so it get the blue one, and it was a Porsche 904. My car was faster than the red one and I loved it.
PORSCHE 904 CARRERA GTS: TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION
MODEL Porsche 904
TYPE Street- and Race Car, two seater Coupé
YEAR OF PRODUCTION 1963 – 1965
TOTAL NUMBER OF BUILD CARS 116
ENGINE 4-cylinder flat
CUBIC CAPACITY 1.966 cc
BORE AND STROKE 92,0 x 74,0 mm
TRANSMISSION Five speed manual
HORSEPOWER Streetcar 155 bhp / Race Car 180bhp
COOLING Air-cooled
BODY STYLE fibreglass body work mounted on a steel frame
WHEELBASE 2300 mm
BRAKES Discs all around
TRACK Front 1316 mm / Back 1312 mm
FRONT / BACKSUSPENSION double wishbones, coil springs, tubular dampers, anti-roll bar
WEIGHT WITHOUT FUEL 650 kg
TORQUE Streetcar 169 Nm at 5000 rpm / Race Car 196 NM at 5000 rpm
V-MAX 250 km/h
ACCELARATION 0 – 100 km/h 5.5 sec.
MEASUREMENTS Length 4090 mm / Width 1540 mm / Height 1065 mm
