DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker

A Whale Tale....

A few months back a friend mentioned he knew of a large whale tail that was potentially for sale and put me in touch with a chap who had acquired one of the most unique and interesting early 911's I've ever come across. The gentleman had acquired a complete car consisting of a sripped rolling shell with a special engine and gearbox and many rare racing parts....it was supplied with three rear lids, one modified, an original RS Duck Tail and an original early Whale Tail which wasn't required.....the owner shared its history with me and yesterday I went to see what has to be one of the coolest modified early 911's I know of....

....the car in question is a 1972 911E coupe purchased new for his home in Colorado by Lance Reventlow (formally Lance Haugwitz-Hardenberg-Reventlow) the son of Danish nobleman Count Kurt Haugwitz-Hardenberg-Reventlow and American socialite Barbara Hutton, heiress to the Woolworths fortune. To the car world Lance is known as a racing driver and creator of the Scarab Sports Racers one of which resides in the Miles Collier Collection at the Revs Institue... https://revsinstitute.org/the-collectio ... rts-racer/ .....Lance was sadly never to enjoy the 911E as he died in a plane crash shortly after it was delivered.

The car was then purchased from the estate by Lance's half brother Richard Reventlow who set about turning it into a 'Race Car for the Road'.....Richard had many contacts at the factory through Baroness Von Saint Paul, one of the first customers of Porsche and was introduced to Frau Baer the head of the Racing Parts Facilty, he had given her a Hermés scarf when she helped him with parts for a previous 911 Targa and they had become great friends.....with the help of Frau Baer and Helmuth Bott a multitude of racing parts was acquired and the 911E was transformed with flared arches, 7&8" Fuchs in a racing finish, an RS spec engine and specially modified racing gearbox and much, much more......it really is unique and very cool ...... previously posted details and more information can be seen here .... http://www.early911sregistry.org/forums ... y-Required ....

....the car currently being reassembled....



...and from its glorious past....



....my interest comes about due to a call Richard Reventlow received from Frau Baer later in 1973......she said she had received the first batch of twenty Whale Tail Spoilers fabricated by their race shop and Richard immediately order one......as for the rest of this initial batch three quarters were sent to America to be fitted to the cars supplied for the International Race of Champions....originally supplied with Duck Tails...



...the IROC cars sported the new 'Whale Tails' by the time they raced...





....'What a score!' Richard recalled and when the new tail arrived he strapped it to the roof of the 911E for the long journey to Dick Troutman who spent some time fitting and finishing it before it was sent to Junior at Junior's House of Color in Gardena to be painted.....it must have created quite a stir in the day .....





....so with opportunity to purchase one of the very first batch of Whale Tail Spoilers produced by the racing department at Porsche I set off at 3:00AM yesterday for a 25-hour round trip to collect it and to also see and discover more history of the incredible vehicle it once graced

This resto stuff sure is fun.....this tail is going to look fantastic on the back of the RS .....



Cheers,

Wow!

Fantastic Darren

Two fantastic finds in a week Darren. This resto is gaining some momentum already and you said you were holding back for now. Great details and you’ve hardly started! Whatever next. Keep it coming.

Regards
Mike

What a great tale/tail.

.
Excellent purchase Darren !

I prefer the ducktail ..... good work.

Great story Darren, perhaps we'll get to hear more about the Reventlow car someday soon?

DustyM wrote:Great story Darren, perhaps we'll get to hear more about the Reventlow car someday soon?

....it's a story that has to be told, one of the most interesting early 911's I've ever come across ......and being put back together pretty nicely too!

Thanks for the interest and kind comments chaps

210bhp wrote:Two fantastic finds in a week Darren......

Mike, you especially would love the Reventlow car and would have pored over the countless small details, the many rare parts in perfect condition and its fabulous detailed history.....it really is an incredible car, it was a privilege to see it and I feel honoured to own a small part of its history

I particularly like the story Richard Reventlow told of when at the factory he wanted to buy a 10K tacho which unfortunately were out of stock at the time......luckily Jürgan Barth was there and having one at home took Richard reventlow to his house to collect it!.....



....one last thing before I get back on track....as I mentioned Richard Reventlow's family and their friends had close ties to the Porsche family hence his introduction to Helmuth Bott, Frau Baer and others at the factory....in the famous photo below you can see Richard's ex-Mother-in-Law Rudi and her sister sitting on the roof of the 356 while Austrian Olympic Skier Egon Zimmerman jumps over them! ....



Wonderful stuff

I did have one small dilemma with acquiring the early Whale Tail in that technically it's incorrect for the car.....

....the 1974 3.0RS was initially supplied with two rear spoilers....a large Group 4 racing Whale Tail as below and a standard sized Whale Tail as fitted to the later Carrera 3.0 (the former being illegal for road use as it extended past the rear bumper)....both however had a rubber lip surround unlike the solid early IROC tails....





....I never expected to find a large Group 4 tail and my initial plan was to buy an EB Motorsport replica and 'add' the rubber lip, there's some great product around and think we would have been pretty successful by cutting a groove and sanding back an out lip before apply a rubberised coating...

....with the acquisition of this tail I did contemplate changing my plans and building an IROC car instead, the history would certainly warrant that, however I really want to build the road going 3.0RS and base car lends itself better to that project so I'll justify fitting this tail by suggesting that the oiginal owner 'may' have wanted a solid rear wing and it most certainly 'could' have happened in period!



Dilemma solved!



Cheers,

The items that inspired this build arrived today courtesy of my good friend Marek Lappock.....he reliably informs me these are the best around ....

....couldn't resist! ....



Cheers,

That looks nearly finished. When is it going to hit the road?

Looking good.

You certainly have befriended lots of interesting contacts Darren and come across lots more interesting cars than most of us. Thanks for sharing both the story and photos on Ddk. The Reventlow car looks very special and obviously would love to see it some day but if it was a 25 hour round trip for you it is either very close to me or very far away. Is it in the UK?
Thanks again

Regards
Mike

That looks superb already Darren