1973 Porsche 911 Carrera RS 2146362520 Tweet

The Carrera RS is one of the most revered cars in the Porsche lineage, and is regarded as one of the finest sports cars of the 1970s. Revealed at the 1972 Paris Auto Show, it was a factory special built to meet the homologation rules of FIA Group 4 racing. The RS (Rennsport) was almost invincible at Le Mans, Daytona and the Targa Florio, often winning outright against pure racing prototypes. Its not often you would see the same car on the podium one day, and passing you on the open road the next. The RS is conclusive proof that one of Porsches greatest skills was building a car that was immensely competitive at the track, and equally useable as a street car. Porsche had only intended to produce 500 Carrera RS examples, set on making just enough to homologate the cars in order to go racing. These 1st series cars are highly coveted, sporting thinner sheet metal from the factory and were focused on being lightweight, offering a purer experience. However, the general public fell so in love with the Carrera RS platform that Porsche ultimately made 2 more rounds of cars, producing another 1,080 examples. These later versions (often referred to as series 2 or series 3 cars) had thicker sheet metal and were generally heavier than their 1st series siblings. This 911 Carrera RS was produced in November of 1972. Optioned in Grand Prix White with blue script, the car was optioned with: heated rear window (two-stage) tinted, limited slip differential, head rests, sport seats, and shoulder and lap seatbelts. Built to be delivered in Germany, this Carrera would remain in Europe for the beginning of its history before being purchased by an American orthopedic surgeon, Robert Herickson. Nate Cantwell (one of the primary members of Automobile Associates of Canton at the time), recalled that Robert Herickson was the type of person who spent the right amount of money to have the very best. Being an extremely successful orthopedic surgeon, he had wherewithal to purchase many things that collectors would consider holy grails. One of his cars that he had in his collection during a period of time was a Porsche 917 PA Spyder and used it on the race track. Robert purchased the Carrera RS from Motorsports International on October 27th, 1986 for a cool $9,000, and quickly sent the car to Automobile Associates of Canton. There it would undergo a complete concours-level restoration, down to the bare factory sheet metal. Nate Cantwell, a former member of the Automobile Associates of Canton team, was able to recall the restoration and the condition of the Carrera RS when it first arrived. At that time Automobile Associates of Canton were known for acquiring and importing Carrera RS cars, and the common theme was that many had something terrible happen to them during their history and then were fixed or restored. The reason why this Carrera RS, 9113600096, was so memorable to Cantwell was that this car had remained intact and untouched. During the time at Automobile Associates, the car was completely stripped to the bare body to reveal the factory welds and thin sheet metal, untouched since the factory had finished them. Minor corrosion issues that are common to Carrera RS cars were fixed due to the lack of undercoating, but otherwise report