Hans Mezger’s Porsche 911 Carrera 3.0 Is Finally Back On The Road

When Hans Mezger passed away in 2020, he left behind a legacy of remarkable engineering. He was the man behind the development of countless Porsche engines, including the air-cooled six-cylinder boxer engine of the 911, the 12-cylinder engine in the 917, and the TAG Turbo engine that took both Niki Lauda and Alain Prost to Formula One World Championships.

It is, therefore, fitting that one of the cars he owned the longest was a Grand Prix White Porsche 911 Carrera 3.0 that he bought from the company in 1979. First used as a test car by the factory in 1977, the company made a bit of a habit of selling its development cars at the time. In fact, the company says, sometimes its rally cars were sold as soon as they crossed the finish line.

Mezger’s car had seen 27,540 km (17,112 miles) of testing by the time he paid 22,400 Deutschmarks, or the equivalent of nearly €26,000 ($29,375 USD) today. When the company handed it over to him, though, they set the odometer back at zero.

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It became the family car, staying with the Mezgers until today. Since Hans also tended to drive the most modern 911s, though, his car only racked up another 10,601 km (6,587 miles) over the course of the next 40 years.

Despite that, it was a fixture and Hans’ son Oliver remembers that the family frequently drove their white 911 to their summer holidays in Zell am See. One of the biggest highlights of the trip was the granite wall that alerted them to only being five minutes from their destination.

“There’s a tunnel there now, but in the 1970s there was a huge wall of granite in Zell am See coming from the Saalfelden side,” says Oliver. “The wall reflected and amplified the air-cooled Porsche sound so much that the interior of the car almost shook. I’ll never forget that.”

Unfortunately, in 2008 trying to reregister the car for the road became a bit of a challenge. The technical inspection agency was particularly concerned about the fact that the car had been used in Weissach from April 1977 but was not regularly registered, not until 1979.

In one of the last interviews before his death, Mezger spoke about wanting to get his 911 back on the road. Beyond the registration issues, it was simply old and in need of some care. Sadly, by the time of his passing, the car was not yet back on the road.

Oliver, though, says that for the first anniversary of the legendary engineer‘s death, the car was made roadworthy again and that he is now driving it. He says that, from behind the steering wheel, the car makes him feel closer to his father.

“The car will stay in the family’s hands and will be driven on special occasions. I’ll be visiting my father at the cemetery in it, and I’ll definitely be taking a trip to the Porsche Museum in his honor,” he says. “Maybe one day I’ll even drive it to Zell am See.”