The Porsche 911 RS was one of Porsche’s first tries at a truly high-performance 911. They, like most people, were dubious about the super-sports potential of the 911’s rear-engine design.

But after re-balancing the company following huge winning streaks at LeMans and the CanAm racing series, Porsche was back to Earth in the early 1970s. The 2.7-liter flat-six was a huge jump in displacement from the original 2.0-liter design — and the 210-horsepower it made was enough to excite even the bravest drivers. This was, after all, a bare-bones and tiny sports-car.

To go along with the huge power jump was a major performance and handling boost: suspension, brakes and aerodynamics all jumped nearly into the modern era in one fell swoop.

This first toe-tip into a supercar 911 was a huge hit. As such, this pristine example is likely to bring more than $650,000 at the RM Auctions Paris sale in early February 2015.

1973 Porsche 911 Carrera RS 2.7 Touring

 

Lot 163

1973 Porsche 911 Carrera RS 2.7 Touring

€450.000 – €550.000

• Chassis no. 9113600171
• Engine no. 6650071

210 bhp, 2,687 cc SOHC cc air-cooled horizontally opposed six-cylinder engine with Bosch mechanical fuel injection, five-speed manual transmission, independent front suspension with torsion bars, McPherson struts, and an anti-roll bar, independent rear suspension with torsion bars, trailing arms, tubular shock absorbers, and an anti-roll bar, and four-wheel disc brakes. Wheelbase: 2,271 mm.

• Extremely desirable model; one of only 1,308 Touring models built

• Special-order Strawberry paint; fully restored in 2007

• Documented five owners from new; ONS Wagenpass

Photo Credit: Tim Scott ©2015 Courtesy of RM Auctions