1974 Porsche 911 Carrera 2.7 MFI

New guide price £70,000 to £80,000

• One of only 24 2.7 Carrera MFI 911s supplied to the UK in 1975
• Later cosmetically modified to present as a 1973 RS
• Prepared for Regularity Rallying during 2008/2009 by Francis Tuthill
• Much success over the last ten years including a gold medal in the 2018 LeJog
• Displayed in the Rotunda of the RAC's Pall Mall clubhouse during January 2019
• Engine and gearbox rebuilt around 10,000 miles ago. Recent service and refresh

The Porsche 911 Carrera 2.7 MFI (mechanical fuel injection), was aimed at worldwide markets apart from the United States, where the Carrera 2.7 was restricted to the 2.7 K-Jetronic engine to sit more easily with Porsche America's marketing strategy. So the rest of us were able to benefit from a new model utilising the same brilliant power-plant as the, now-iconic, 1973 Carrera RS, making them mechanically identical, but with a few concessions towards civility and day to day use. In its introductory year of 1974, the Carrera 2.7 MFI came fitted with a ducktail spoiler and the new G-Series chassis was beefed-up to appease ever-stricter US crash-worthiness requirements. The floor pans were strengthened, lighting was improved and larger bumpers incorporated. Importantly, the Carrera 2.7 MFI is capable of the same performance and engenders the same feel and driving enjoyment as the RS and its dramatic styling cues including the ducktail and wide rear wings pay homage to its more focused sibling. With an impressive 210bhp, 2,687 cc Type 911/83 air-cooled horizontally opposed six-cylinder engine with Bosch mechanical fuel injection, 0-60 mph was achieved in just over five seconds and the car was geared for 150mph through the 5-speed manual transmission. The suspension was fully independent with torsion bars, McPherson struts and anti-roll bars. The total weight was just over 1,075 kilograms, which made the 2.7 MFI a very fast car in its day and in fact, it was the fastest production 911 until the late 1980's. In total, 1,647 MFI Carrera Coupes were built for Europe/non-US markets during this three-year run, along with 631 Targas, with total production figures not vastly outnumbering that of the original 1973 Carrera RS.

This 2.7 Carrera is a genuine UK-supplied, right-hand drive car and appears to have been built in August 1974 as one of the very first of the 1975 Model Years production run. The chassis number is 0096 and the engine number is similarly low at 665 0130 suggesting it was one of the first 1975 M/Y cars off the line. It was delivered to the UK in September 1974 and registered to its first owner on the 23rd of that month. The 2.7 MFI was often the second choice for buyers in 1974 as the RS or RSL were simply too expensive or, more likely, impossible to find so it was no surprise that a number of these cars were subsequently transformed into RS lookalikes. The extent of these modifications and any mechanical alterations will be detailed here as soon as we receive the appropriate invoices from our vendor.

In 2008/2009, KLM 544N was converted to a spec that would enable it to run in 'Regularity Rallies' with much of the work carried out by the Francis Tuthill Workshops in Banbury, probably the most highly respected specialists in this field and certainly vastly experienced in preparing 911s for demanding rallies. They have continued to assist in the running of the car and we understand that KLM has now competed in some 53 events in the UK and Europe, with roughly half of those being multi-day events that could last up to a week. One of the most notable was the gruelling 2018 HERO LeJog Reliability Trial, which winds its way up through 1,500 miles of the UK from Land's End to John O'Groats, the most southerly point of England to the northernmost tip of Scotland. It challenges crews with incredibly tough navigational challenges, difficult terrain and a schedule that doesn't really allow for sleep. If you can survive LeJog, you earn serious rally kudos. To quote Petrolicious,