The Porsche 962 is up there as one of the greats in sports car racing. Even six years after its development ended, it was still winning races. That’s why for this week’s Want we’re looking at a street version of the 962. However, this isn’t just any street version, but rather the highly modified Schuppan 962CR.
The 962CR was the brainchild of Vern Schuppan. Fans of ’80s sports car racing might recognize that name too. However, if you don’t, Schuppan was one of the drivers behind the 1983 24 Hours of LeMans-winning Rothmans Porsche 956.
Schuppan hung up his racing gear in 1989, but in 1991 got the idea to build the supercar. With a substantial investment from potential Japanese clients, he set to work.
Converting a race car into something liveable every day is no small feat. They are loud, uncomfortable, hot, and for the most part not safe without proper equipment.
Schuppan addressed this with the 962CR, but only just. There are things like air conditioning, a radio, rearview camera, and proper seat belts, but that’s it.
The only other addition to the interior the car is a pair of leather seats – although we use the word pair loosely. One look at the interior picture of the car shows that you and your passenger are fairly cozy.
The carbon fiber body varies greatly from the Porsche 962. Only the canopy section is the same. However, great care went into the design to pay homage to the Group C racer.
The drivetrain of the vehicle is mostly unchanged from its racing counterpart. It uses the same twin-turbo flat-six from the North American IMSA GT Championship. However, the displacement gets a bump up to 3.3-liters from 2.65-liters. This puts the power output at 600 ponies with 479lbft of torque.
Official performance figures are spotty at best. The car is said to have a top speed of 229mph with a 0-60 time of three seconds though.
While the car itself is fairly impressive, perhaps the most astonishing thing about it is its rarity. During its production run, only six of the planned 50 ever made it out of the Wycombe, UK factory.
To this day only five survive too. That’s what makes this example we found for sale by Bingo Sports World of Tokyo, Japan even more special.
The original car made its way to Japan in 1997. Then in 2007, a supercar collector purchased it, and proceeded to hold on to it until 2014 when it went to Bingo.
If this seems strange to you, you’re not alone. We too wonder why this 962CR hasn’t been bought in the four years it’s been for sale.
It’s not like this car is vastly different than the original either. Sometime between ’07 and ’14, the owner painted the car yellow and redid the seats in tan leather. They also added a navigation system too. But other than that, the Schuppan is more or less unchanged.
There is no price listed for the car. Another Schuppan 962CR did sell in the US recently for a rumored $1.9 million, so this car is probably in that ballpark.
While that does seem like a substantial amount of money, the car’s price when new was also staggeringly high too. In 1994, the car sold for ¥200,000,000 ($1.8 million). This makes it one of the most expensive new cars ever sold.
Hopefully, someone does come along to scoop up this ultra-rare car. It’s a shame that it currently sits at a high-end car dealer and isn’t out enjoying the open roads.
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