For Sale: 1990 Porsche 962C
Images: Bonhams
This one-owner, only-driven-on-Sundays 1990 Porsche 962C is heading to auction at Bonhams’ upcoming Spa Classic Sale.
Read on, and spend a few minutes getting to know its story and checking out the photos.
This 962C, chassis 962-155, was sold by the Porsche Factory to its first, and current, owner in 1990. It was sold with a three-litre works engine that would later be bored out to a 3.2.
It made its racing debut in 1991 qualifying for the 430 kilometre race at Nürburgring in August where it was campaigned by Obermaier Racing. Jürgen Oppermann and Otto Altenbach were behind the wheel for the race and finished just off the podium in fourth overall.
Jürgen Oppermann settled in behind the wheel again two months later for the Zeltweg-Hinterstoisser in Austria where he’d win the second heat.
It would be a few years later, in 1993, when the car would see its most famous performance. Jürgen Oppermann and Otto Altenbach were joined by Loris Kessel to qualify the car in ninth and go on to claim a top-ten finish of seventh in the 1993 24 Hours of Le Mans.
That finish, while strong in its own right, was not the most enduring memory of that particular outing, however. The team did not have a sponsor for the event, and so its owner prepared the car in the same livery of the Les 24 Hueres du Mans organisers. This did not go down well with the Automobile Club de l’Ouest, who refused to let the team start the race until they’d removed the livery.
The owner refused, and they were locked in a stand-off. In an unusual twist of fates, Automobile Club de l’Ouest were the ones who backed down, allowing the car to start and claim a wonderful little piece of history by finishing the great race in the official livery of its organisers. They were the first Porsche home, slotting in behind the trio of Peugeot 905 Evo 1Bs that locked out the podium, the Team Tom’s Toyota TS010 and a pair of Toyota 92C-Vs.
962-155 will be offered in that 1993 24 Hours of Le Mans livery, with the 3.2-litre engine that was used in qualifying for the race. The engine has only seen light use since its last rebuild, meaning that it’s good for quite a bit of track time until it will need another one.
The car has been factory-fitted with carbon fibre brakes along with a completely revised suspension.
This machine is unique in many rights. It was bought directly from the Porsche factory by its one-and-only owner, and is sold with a Porsche bill of sale. It’s also the only car to have competed in the official 24 Hours of Le Mans livery. It’s a wonderful machine with an interesting and successful racing history – a stunning racing car to add to the collection!
Head to Bonhams’ website here for more information. The Bonhams Spa Classic Sale will be held on the 24th of May, 2015.
Images via Bonhams
