Robert Redford Owned 1 Of Just 100 Porsche 904 Ever Built
Porsche only built 100 of the 904 racer and Robert Redford owned this one for a decade and now it could be your turn.
The 904 only had a short racing career as it was built for the 1964 and 65 seasons. The simple ladder frame chassis was coated in a pretty looking glassfibre body and was the one of the last great Porsche 4 cylinder racers. Even though the engine bay was big enough to accommodate a 6 cylinder engine the entire car was replaced with the 906 with its space frame chassis.
This particular car was originally bought by Steve Earle, the founder of Monterey Historic Races at Laguna Seca. However, he never raced the car and sold it to Steve Berg.
Now he did campaign the car rather successfully. The second customer 904, chassis number 904 012, was campaigned in the Targa Florio and even managed to get onto the podium at the Monte Carlo Rally.
The 904 was known as a bit of a giant killer, the light weight, mid mounted car had a great handling balance and enough power to move along at a decent pace. Being aerodynamic for the time helped too with a very small frontal area.
In 1966 Robert Redford bought the car from the racing driver and kept the car for the next 10 years. He had become a big name in Hollywood and obviously spent some of the money on the 904. How much this was for is unknown, but it won’t have been that cheap.
Redford didn’t do anything serious with the car, but when he sold it the original 4 cylinder engine was in need of a rebuild. The original engine was replaced at this time with an item from a 2 litre 911 by the new owner, Stefan Talpe.
Talpe restored the car repainting it in a period correct Irish Green and the result is what you see here. He owned the car for 34 years before selling it to the current vendor.
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