EARLY in the 911’s history, factory racing efforts were largely limited to Europe. The US racing efforts were mainly privateer led. While the 911 won the 1966 SCCA D production National Championship at Riverside with a 911S, Porsche still found themselves challenged among American enthusiasts, especially uncertain 356 owners. The new 911S was a massive price increase, and sales consequently suffered. Along with other US Porsche sales executives, the late Terry Bucholtz, then General Manager of Porsche Cars Northwest in Beaverton, Oregon, travelled to Stuttgart to discuss the new model. Bucholtz wanted to convince Porsche to produce a handful of lightweight 911S coupes that would compete in SCCA racing around the country and thus improve Porsche’s racing presence, ideally leading to an increase in sales. Since Porsche was already campaigning its lightweight 911R prototypes at home, it was not a difficult decision.
PORSCHE'S RACING DEPARTMENT developed a list of special competition-oriented parts that could be homologated for racing use. This list became known colloquially as the “Sports Purposes” catalog, and the items therein could legally be installed in 911s raced in SCCA’s competitive “C Production” class, where the six-cylinder model had too easily triumphed the year prior in 1966. The highly sought after “Rally Kit Option 9552” and several “Tuning Packages” were brought to market, albeit in very limited examples.
COMPONENTS INCLUDED in the Rally kits were Recaro racing seats, a bolt-in rollover bar, skid plates, deletion of most of the interior trim including the rear jump seats, a smaller-diameter steering wheel, a dead pedal for the driver’s left foot, a 100-liter fuel tank with through-the-hood filler, plastic side and rear windows, Koni adjustable shock absorbers, larger sway bars, aluminum 906 brake calipers with competition pads, specially-prepared cylinder heads, carefully matched manifolds, a lightweight flywheel and racing clutch, stronger transmission internals including a 904 main-shaft, a broad range of gears and rear-axle ratios, and a limited-slip differential. The Tuning Kits provided carburetion and exhaust parts that boosted the two-liter engine’s output.
THIS light ivory coupe, chassis number arrived at Porsche Cars Northwest on April 12, 1967 with the ‘rally equipment’, ‘sport kit II’, and ‘limited slip differential’ as options fitted at the factory. Upon delivery, Bucholtz sat down with his service manager, Tom Dawkins, and a local driver, Gary Wright, who had been racing very successfully with a PCNW backed 356, and laid out plans for the upcoming season. Their goal was to enter as many SCCA production races in the Pacific Northwest as they could, and if possible, take a crack at the new Trans-American Championship, where the 911 was allowed to compete as a ‘sedan’ due to a loophole in the series rules. Wright made the car a winner right out of the box, and drove it to the SCCA Pacific Northwest C Production season championship, qualifying for a spot in the National Runoffs at Daytona that November. Dawkins also shared driving duties, taking the wheel in SCCA Regional contests.
NOTABLY, the team entered the Kent 300, a grueling 135-lap enduro at Pacific Raceways near Seattle, Washington, in October. Wright – with co-driver Mike Eyerly – finished a strong sixth overall, but more importantly, first in the Under-Two-Liter category, clinching for Porsche the season U-2 Trans Am title.
LATER, the team headed for Daytona, where Wright would finish third overall behind Alan Johnson and Davey Jordan in a stunning Porsche 1-2-3 sweep of C Production over the favored Datsun 2000 and Lotus Elan roadsters.
WITH THE 1967 SEASON IN THE BOOKS, Bucholtz sold the 67S to Wright, who continued to race the car in SCCA events. In 1969, Wright sold the car to another Portland driver, Todd Webb. It also ran at the 1969 ARRC at Daytona, finishing 5th. By 1970, however, the 67S was no longer competitive against newer, larger-engine 911s, so Webb retired the car to street use and occasional auto cross event.
THE CAR WOULD pass through several other owners before Florida Porsche collector and former IMSA driver Scott Tyler acquired it in 1988. In 2003, Tyler sold the car to another Floridian, Ross Bleustein, who entrusted it to Scooter Gable in St. Petersburg for a painstaking restoration that was completed in 2005 by DTM Engineering. Resplendent in its 1967 Trans-Am livery, and with a period correct 2.0 liter racing engine installed, it returned to Portland, site of its first victories, appearing at the 2006 Porsche Parade’s Historic Concours d’Elegance. The car has retained notable ownership through it’s career, at one point owned and campaigned by one of the worlds most significant and private collections.
IN 2023, it was purchased by a private collector in Scottdsale, Arizona where it currently resides and is managed / supported by OTTO WERKS of OTTO Gruppe.