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It looks like a completely “normal” Porsche G-model, but has 210 hp under the hood – the Porsche 911 2.7 MFI from 1974 is a wolf, disguised in sheep’s clothing
The best experience I had with my “Neunelfer” from 1974 was at a rally in the south of France. The plan was a trip to Saint Paul de Vence and then a week of day rides on the legendary cycling tracks where Tour de France riders pedal up.
But on the very first day in Provence I had clutch problems and had to let the group go.
Instead of driving, I stood in a workshop for four hours.
In some French workshop, because, it has to be said, you can repair almost anything on a Porsche anywhere in the world with a hammer, a pair of water pump pliers, and a welder.
By noon the car is ready and I am standing at the foot of the Mont Ventoux and get me a bottle of sparkling water at the kiosk and think: Do I now drive over Mont Ventoux after the group – they were four hours ahead of me – or do I drive the route backwards and meet them there?
And I think to myself, before I now drive backwards and only have half the driving fun, I’d rather enjoy Mont Ventoux.
Just as I’m about to turn out of the parking lot – twenty Ferraris behind me!
All lined up on the side of the road… and all in fighting positions.
They had just formed up to do a private race up there.
Of course they’re watching me… and the moment they drive off, I drive off too!
I think I heard them all yelling “shit.” That they now have such an idiot in front of them. Such a stupid German Porsche.
In the city, I drove at 50, 60 km/h for the time being. And from the sign “Free ride” I gave it my all….
The course is about ten kilometers long, and the result was that I had a one and a half turn lead in the last kilometer.
I then took advantage of this: At the top of the platform, I braked the car with the handbrake so that I could jump out of the rolling vehicle, and within a second I was casually posing as if I’d been leaning against the car for five minutes, cigarette in hand.
They didn’t stand a chance. The car is unrivaled.
One thousand pounds, 210 horsepower, oversized disc brakes, five gears, tuned as if for it, engine speed over 8,000… it was light years ahead of its time.
“The 1974 Carrera is unrivaled – it was light years ahead of its time.”
Among the many Porsche 911s that I have come to love and appreciate over the past five decades and to this day, there have been very few outliers that were so strong in character that you didn’t like them at first.
Which had such an abrupt power delivery that they were basically impossible to keep on the road with normal driving skills.
(There was even a legend that one out of five turbos in the 930 model didn’t survive the week it was delivered. That says a lot about a car).
A very similar feeling was conveyed by the 911 Carrera RS from 1972 – when Porsche wanted to set new standards and got 210 hp out of a 2.7-liter engine with mechanical injection.
As I said, we’re talking about the early ’70s, when normal cars had 50 or maybe 70 horsepower at times.
This model later became known as the “Entenbürzel”: It was the first Porsche with a rear spoiler, where people asked themselves, does it have to be, such a strange, slanted board on the engine cover?
But Porsche invented the spoiler – to increase downforce, so to speak – on vehicles approved for the road. Before, that only existed in racing.
And this 1972 Porsche in question was to be sold in a small edition of 1,000 units – that’s how many were needed for official approval. In the end, it became 1590 vehicles.
But there were significantly more engines. That’s why it was decided to install the last engines from 1974 onwards in the already available G model, as a wolf in sheep’s clothing, so to speak – and in a couple of Targas, now known as MFI, for Mechanical Fuel Injection.
This combination – of the “well-behaved” body and the “sharp” engine – was of course the chief wolf in sheep’s clothing.
PorscheKlassik” magazine dedicated the cover story to me on its 10th anniversary-and accompanied me on a drive with the Targa
A fair-weather car for “wimps”, who possibly really drive openly, with a scarf around their neck, or as a lady with a headscarf. And that was with the racing engine from the Bürzel 911, which could only run with the rear spoiler… it really was a crazy time.
In 1974, for example, Porsche’s model portfolio included three variants that looked almost identical and were also shown side by side in advertising at the time: A Porsche 911 with 150 hp, one with 175 hp, and then the one with 210 hp. “It’s always been a little more expensive to want something special, ” was the headline in the double-page ad.
In the normal engine version, the so-called K-Jetronic came into play: this was an injection technology that was electronically controlled. This made the cars more economical and environmentally friendly, but of course they were like neutered.
And next to it, this 210-horsepower car that was as useless as anything back then – and then as a Targa!
But a few people wanted it, and that car is now the legendary wolf-in-sheep’s-skin Porsche.
It looks like a normal Porsche, mine here for example, chic red, the temple not even coated in black, but still in brushed stainless steel.
It has a bit wider wheels, is a bit lower, has a bit different stabilizers… it looks unspectacular. But everything about this car is five times better than series.
And the engine has 210 hp and 2.7 liters of displacement – and a high-revving engine. These are engines that you can rev particularly high, and you can’t imagine what a feeling of happiness it is to drive a car like this.
Mechanically, there is nothing finer. I like to compare it to a watch that has 20 or more displays, that has 700 or 800 parts in it, and some people say – “oh, that’s heavy, I’d rather buy a Swatch”.
And others say, “Wow, that has 800 parts in one case, a watchmaker works on that for a year.” And I think to myself, no, two years – that’s why there are only five of them a year.
You have to have a soft spot for technical finesse, of course.
That’s what makes the car special for me, and that’s why I had to have one at some point – and that’s why it’s my favorite Porsche.
And now he is also my “picture of the month”, of which you can order a framed print here.
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