1973 Porsche 911E - (1993 London - Sydney)

First registered by AFN Ltd, as their official demonstrator of the newly announced '911 E'

Used as a competition car in the late 80s in the Porsche Cup series. Won in 1989 and 1990

Purchased by our vendor in 1992. Converted to a 'Marathon'-spec rally car by RSR Engineering and Peter Bowden

An official Porsche GB-supported entry for the 1993 London-Sydney Rally driven by our vendor and Peter Bowden

Complete with its original gearbox, but no engine. Rare opportunity to acquire a significant piece of Porsche history at 'No Reserve'

RGO 5L had a significant early life as it was first registered on 23rd March 1973 by AFN Ltd, the Porsche importer at the time, as their official demonstrator of the newly announced '911 E' model. It was the sister car to RGO 4L, the 2.7 Carrera which sold in auction back in 2012 for £225,000.

Used by Peter Balbeck, the company secretary, it was subsequently sold for private use until being acquired by Paul Edwards in the late 1980s for use as a competition car in the burgeoning Porsche Cup series. In fact, it was driven to victory in 1989 by Keith Norman and then sold and repeated the same championship victory the following season.

Purchased by our vendor in 1992, it was then converted to a 'Marathon' spec rally car by RSR Engineering and also Peter Bowden, who at the time was Porsche GB's most senior technician. Through Peter, the car became an official works supported entry for the 1993 London-Sydney Rally with Porsche GB paying the significant five-figure entry fee and Porsche Germany assisting by providing access to the current technical specification of their factory rally cars.

Our vendor competed in the gruelling rally with Peter Bowden co-driving and by the end of the second day was leading the rally outright. RGO 5L continued to lead the event for several days until a small accident in Austria, involving the car being suspended over a wooden bridge with a 10-metre drop down to the river below! This drama, captured on a DVD of the event which comes with the car, dropped the crew to tenth overall, but from Graz onwards the car was always in the top three of every subsequent stage, eventually arriving in Shimla, India, in 3rd place overall.

The car, sadly, did not finish the rally with mechanical gremlins striking the team very late on when they arrived in Chandigarh, that could not be repaired at the time. The car was subsequently repatriated to England and has sat in our vendor's garage reminding him of their epic rally ever since, remaining untouched other than the removal of the engine approximately a decade ago. The car comes with it's UK V5C and a small history file including the aforementioned DVD of the 1993 London - Sydney rally.

So, in summary, this is a car with a special and significant background that is ripe for a full restoration. Offered complete with its original gearbox, but no engine, it is also a "No reserve" Lot and offers a rare opportunity to acquire and rebuild a significant piece of Porsche history.