Few racing cars are more iconic than the Porsche 917 and recently, ex race car driver and car dealer Bruce Canepa hit the streets of California in one.
The Porsche 917 featured in this video is one of just 12 917K (with K standing for Kurzheck, or ‘short tail’) models ever produced by the German car manufacturer. It is chassis 017 and recently underwent a three-year restoration to return it to its former glory and had its maiden voyage on the street, rather than a racetrack as one might have expected.
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This is the second of two 917s in Canepa’s collection. It has a particularly noteworthy history and made its racing debut at the Spa 1000 km in May 1970. In the weeks leading up to the race, the car was sent to England to replace chassis 004 that had been badly damaged at Brands Hatch a couple of weeks prior. The John Wyer Automotive Engineering squad that raced the car then grafted the VIN plate from chassis 004 onto 017 to avoid the customs documentation that could have taken a couple of months to process.
In 1971, the car competed in the Daytona 24 Hours, Monza 1000 km and the Zeltweg 1000 km and during Daytona, it qualified in fourth with drivers Jo Siffert and Derek Bell but had to retire after 113 laps. The car went on to secure second position during the Monza race but retired during the Zeltweg 1000 km.
It is difficult to put a price on a car like this, but were Canepa to ever sell it, it would probably fetch in excess of $20 million, which makes the sight of it on the road all the more special.