Since 1930, the Porsche brand has held the honors of being the leading car manufacturing brand in Germany. The brand was founded by Ferdinand Porsche and it specializes in high performance sports cars, SUVs, and Sedans.
Over the years, Porsche has been able to assemble a long list of unique super cars such as the Porsche 550 Spyder, Porsche 904 Carrera GTS, Porsche 911 Turbo, Porsche 959, Porsche 911 GT1, Carrera GT and Porsche 918 Spyder among others.
In 2014, Porsche celebrated 50 years of its most popular model – the 911. However, it is also worthy of note that the 911 model that raised the bar and stands out as the leading light for every other 911 variants is the 1973 Carrera RS 2.7. The Porsche 911 is a two-door 2+2 high performance rear-engine sports car introduced in September 1964 by Porsche AG of Stuttgart, Germany.
The Porsche 911 series remains the best and most enhanced model assembled by the Porsche brand till date. It has a rear-mounted flat-six engine and a torsion bar suspension and although it has been refined and fine tuned over the years, its evolution has not gone too far from its basic initial concept.
The 911 models have also been able to stand out among racing and competition cars. As a matter of fact, the 911 Carrera RS 2.7 won world championship races including Targa Florio and the 24 Hours of Daytona. The 911 935 turbo also won 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1979.
Ultimately, the Porsche brand won the World Championship for Makes in 1976, 1977, 1978 and 1979 respectively, all with 911-derived models.
Why We Love The 1973 Porsche 911 Carrera
“Lucky” is an understatement for the fortunate few who purchased the 911 Carrera RS 2.7 in 1973. This was mainly due to the fact that the sensation of being firm and comfortable in the driver’s seat as you accelerate is an ecstatic feeling for every driver; a desire that the model effortlessly provides.
The model is considered by most buyers to be the greatest classic 911 of all time. RS is the acronym for “Rennsport” in German, which translates to “racing sport” and originally, the model was built to launch the Porsche brand into racing formulae that required a certain minimum number of production cars be made.
Porsche did not officially introduce the 911 Carrera until the Paris Motor Show in October 1972, although marketing had been going on underground to prospective customers. After the model was introduced, the attention it garnered and its overall success was even beyond Porsche’s expectations; they had sold 51 cars before the Paris Debut and had solidified orders for 449 cars!
The car combines a whole lot of unique qualities in its class, length, small bumper aesthetics, pace, light and engine. It is devoid of flashy side decals, and was originally not available to U.S buyers, it was in fact sold for the first time in Germany before eventually it was owned by a Japanese collector who was rumored to sometimes sleep next to it at night.
The car is also well known for its excellent stopping power, the brake feel is remarkable and the pedal is firm. Various feedbacks from buyers has revealed that the clutch is relatively light and quite easy to operate.
However, some buyers have complained that the power delivery is fairly poor due to the fact that even though the two engines are peaky, the RS only gets past 4,000 rpm, and the engine just opens up, with air-cooled thrash that builds in fervor to the 7,200 rpm redline. But this does not erase the fact that the RS 2.7 is a dual-purpose car.
Features Of The 1973 Porsche 911 Carrera RS 2.7
The 911 Carrera has a lot of outstanding features, even better than most competition or sports cars. Some of its unique features are as follows:
- Engine: Large 2.7-liter; 164.0 cu in (2,6887 cc) boxer-6 engine with a bore x stroke of 90mm x 70.4 mm (3.54 in x 2.77 in) developing 210 PS (207 hp; 154 kW) at 6,300 rpm and 255 N.m (188 lb-ft) of torque at 5100 rpm.
- Dimensions: L: 162.5 in, W: 65.0 in, H: 52.0 in
- Weight: 2450 lbs
- Performance: 0-60 mph: 5.8 sec, quarter mile: 14.5 sec at 90 mph
- Stiffened suspension
- A ducktail rear spoiler
- Very large brakes
- Wide rear wheels and rear wings
Final Thoughts:
Today, the 1973 Porsche 911 Carrera RS 2.7 remains a legendary model of the Porsche brand and an ample number of its variants are among the most prized models among the collection of Porsche sports-racing cars.
The RS 2.7 at the point of its launch was carefully designed and engineered as a lighter, more powerful, better balanced and more aerodynamic version of the previous 911 and till date upholds the legacy as the highest-performing cynosure car for Porsche models.