17 replies to this topic

[edscars]

This car is from a vintage collection and has a Cox iso aluminum chassis. The decals indicate Porsche, but the body style looks a bit closer to a Can-Am Ferrari 612 to me, although not exactly the same. 

 

Can anyone make a positive identification on the body style or the vac body maker?

 

 

 

 

[slotcarone]

The spacing between the intake tubes would indicate Porsche but I don't remember them having an eight-cylinder race car. 

[Martin]

That may be the 908/3. But not a perfect match.

 I see some differences. The body in question has 2 front NACA ducts just next to the 36# and no side NACA duct on the side, it maybe something else?

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[Dave Crevie]

It's the Porsche 908/2, that someone cut the rear wheel openings a little too far back. The real car had closed bodywork behind the wheels. Some major changes, suggested by driver Brian Redman, in the engine/transaxle design, included the open bodywork seen on the 908/3. The /2 had the same layout as the previous 906's,  907's and 910's.The /3 had a new transaxle design, that had the gearbox section between the engine and differential, and in turn shortened up the rear of the car behind the rear wheels. All this moved the center of gravity farther forward in the car, reducing the "dumb bell effect" that Porsches have suffered with from day one. That is where the weight of the engine and/or transmission is behind the rear wheels, and causes a car that is spinning out to be much harder to correct. The closer the weight is to the center of the car, the easier it is to control.      

 

 

edit; Knew I had a picture of the rear somewhere;

 

Martin shows some very good pictures of the /3 version, with much modified bodywork. 

[Martin]

Dave, I was trying to match that offset windshield, and the NACA ducts on the nose. Never did find a perfect match.

[Bill Seitz]

The problem with identifying bodies from photos of the real car is that there were often several iterations of a basic body over the race season or for particular tracks. Since many of the Porsche race cars were also customer cars that could have further differences/alterations, this adds to the variety. Finding an exact match to a slot car body is often hard.

[blue&orange]

Definitely a strange molding of a Porsche 908/2.  Tony Dean actually won a Can Am race in one.  This mold seems to take a lot of artistic license -- no headlights, filled in windshield, front Naca ducts, missing rear Naca ducts among others.

 

Attached are a couple of my 908/2s.  White one is True Scale body on vintage brass inline chassis with Mura motor.  Blue one is Red Fox on JK21.  The 908 Spyders and Coupes are still my favorite slot body.

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[edscars]

Thanks to Dave and all of you for sharing, I appreciate all of your opinions. I'll label it a Porsche 908/2.  You guys rock.

[edscars]

Thank you also Chris.  Didn't see your post until just now. Yours are very nicely detailed!

[Dave Crevie]

Bill, you are absolutely right. Porsche would sell a race car to just anyone, with the money, of course. Customers made changes to the cars as the season progressed, always trying to find that little edge over the competition. It's why I posted the shot of car number one, first one out of Weissach. I don't have a straight on shot of the nose, but IIRC, there were NACA ducts with large flexible hoses running to the front brake calipers. 

 

The offset in the windshield was to match up with the driver's seat, which was offset due to the required passenger's seat. These were purpose built racecars, but to run FIA events, still had to have passenger seats, spare tires and accommodation for an FIA regulation suitcase. Somewhere along the line they dropped the suitcase reg, but the cars still need passenger seats, and I think spares, except in the pure prototype classes.   

[Dave Crevie]

The spacing between the intake tubes would indicate Porsche but I don't remember them having an eight-cylinder race car. 

 

Porsche even had a 16 cylinder race car. They stuffed a motor made of two flat 8's into a 917 Spyder, but never raced it. They (Porsche) are promising to bring the car to Goodwood next year.

 

 

Edit; Found this shot of the 16 cylinder car;

 

[Jens Scale Racing]

Hi guys,

 

it's a Porsche 917 , maybe a Dynamic body. 

 

See the wonderful report of Jairus Watson here: http://slotblog.net/...dewinder/page-3

 

[Dave Crevie]

A 917 has 12 stacks and a fan in the center between the stacks. This body is a 908.

[spudboy]

It's a phantom. 

 

The body most closely resembles a 1969 Porsche 917PA (PA = Porsche North America) but the engine configuration resembles a 908.  Two were built but only one raced with a 12 cylinder.  The second served as a development mule for the 16 cilynder engine.  The "race" chassis was not competitive but laid the groundwork for future success.

[Jens Scale Racing]

...as spudboy said...

 

It's a 917 Dynamic body, see the pic. And the 908 Spyder is to see above. AW catalogue 1970.

 

 

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[edscars]

Looks like Nate and Dieter may have nailed this one down. Thanks for your input!

[Dave Crevie]

Here's what a 908 coupe sounds like. The spyder would sound the same;

 

 

Here's what a 908/3 sounds like;

 

 

And this is a 917;

 

 

By the way, the 908 coupe is currently up for auction on Bring-A-Trailer.

[edscars]

Thanks for those Dave.  The 908/3 racing views and sounds are amazing, almost putting you right there in the race!