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The Porsche 917 is a race car that gave Porsche its first overall wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1970 and 1971. The 917K was an evolution of the original 1969 car.
The 917K Road Car was made out of the 21th built Porsche 917, which was delivered to AAW Racing in April 1970 for the Interserie championship. The Finish racing team initially painted the car red and yellow, but eventually opted for the famous mauve and green psychedelic livery, hence its nickname “Hippie Porsche”. Porsche 917-021 raced on circuits like the Nürburgring, Spa-Francorchamps and Monza. The car was also entered in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, where it crashed. A new chassis was installed and the season continued, which resulted in two victories: the Grand Prix at the Keimola Motor Stadium (which was owned by AAW Racing) in Finland and the Trophy of the Dunes at Zandvoort in the Netherlands.
After the 1970 season Porsche 917-021 was dismantled, the engine and suspension were installed in a Porsche 917 Spyder which would be used in racing the following year. The bodywork and chassis were sold to a Porsche specialist in Karlsruhe, southern Germany. These parts were collecting dust for three years until they were bought by Joachim Grossman, a carpenter and restaurant owner, who wanted to build a road-going Porsche 917. The incomplete Porsche was taken to his home in the small town of Bad-Wildbad in the Black Forest, where Grossman started restoring and modifying the car, a task which took over two years to complete.
The body was stripped from its racing colors and repainted white, turn lights were installed, and the original lightweight plexiglass windows were replaced by more solid glass. The interior received an overhaul as well to make it slightly more comfortable, it now featured white seats from made leather and blue floor mats bearing the car’s designation “917”. Remarkably there was also a hair dryer under the dashboard which served as a defroster.
An engine was bought from Willi Kauhsen, who had driven the famous Porsche 917/20 “Pink Pig” at Le Mans. Furthermore a gearbox and suspension was installed, and a more silent exhaust was fitted. Dunlop provided new tires suitable for road use, those at the rear measured almost an impressive 50 cm in width.
Joachim Grossman’s received an official manufacturers plate from Porsche, which meant the Stuttgart-based company acknowledged his modified 917 as a real Porsche. Eventually last hurdle was taken in June 1977 when the car passed the mandatory roadworthiness test in Germany and received a license plate bearing “CW-K 917″.
The street-legal 917 had a dry weight of 970 kg and according to official documents the detuned flat-twelve engine provided 550 horsepower at 7,500 rpm. The top speed of the car was 320 km/h. By comparison, the fastest road-going car in those day was the Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona with a top of 280 km/h. With the possible exception of other modified racing cars it could be argued that the street-legal 917s were the fastest road-going cars in the world until the arrival of the Ferrari F40 in 1987.
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Here's a similar vehicle inspired by Le Mans:
