The 1973 Porsche Carrera 2.7 RSH belongs to a series of just 17 units, which explains its value among collectors: $1.35 million USD before the auction start.
Porsche designed the Carrera RS to homologate its FIA Group 4 GT racer back in the 1970s. The engineers took the standard 911 S, stripped it of excess weight, tweaked the suspension and added a revised aerodynamic kit including a ducktail spoiler. A batch of 500 units was planned for production, but the model exploded in popularity, so the volume was tripled.
Most of these cars were meant to be daily driven on public roads. A few hundred were optioned with a lighter body (-100 kg / -220 lbs), 55 units were upgraded for amateur racing, and only 17 were RSH spec (H for homologation). This latter batch had a necessary minimum of interior comforts, no fancy options at all and a particularly lightweight build (935 kg / 2,061 lbs).
Like the rest of its brethren, the RSH came powered by a 2.7-liter flat-six engine rated at 210 PS (207 hp / 154 kW). It needed less than six seconds to get going at 100 km/h (62 mph) and did not hit its speed ceiling until 245 km/h (152 mph).
This particular example was produced in May 1973 for a Porsche dealership in the Netherlands, from where it was exported into the United States. It then proceeded to change hands multiple times, but most owners treated it like the collector’s item it was. The example on sale has three restorations on its record.