Porsche was just one of the many companies that used to dabble in racing before it focused solely on developing street-legal sports cars. And during their time on the track, their cars were able to perform exceptionally well. One of these vehicles is the Porsche 904 or the Carrera GTS as it would be known.

The Porsche 904 was released in 1964 and was tagged as the successor to the company’s previous release, the 718. Although it first carried the 904 name, Porsche was forced to change the vehicle’s name to Carrera GTS due to some naming rights problem (the same problem that prompted them to change the name of the Porsche 901).

When the vehicle first came out, the Porsche Carrera GTS was one of the first cars to sport a white fiberglass body. Prior to the use of fiberglass, most race cars made in Germany were equipped with unpainted aluminum bodies. Aside from this distinction, the Porsche Carrera GTS is also considered the pioneer race car that led to the development of the Porsche 917.

After having the Porsche Carrera GTS compete at various FIA-GT international racing events, the company decided to launch a street-legal version of the race car. This was done in compliance with GT regulations requiring that participating companies were to create a number of road-ready versions of their race cars. As a result, Porsche released a limited number of 100 Carrera GTS.

Just like its racing sibling, the street-legal Porsche Carrera sported a fiberglass body that was connected to a steel chassis. It carried a mid-engine layout that shared similarities with the Porsche 718.As for its engine, the Porsche Carrera GTS was equipped with a version of the four-cylinder Fuhrmann engine. Originally used by the 550 Spyder, this engine allowed the race car to produce a total of 180 horsepower at every outing.

Due to popular demand for the vehicle, Porsche had to produce a new set in 1965. But compared to the 100 units they produced the previous year, the company opted to just put out 20 units, giving the race car a touch of exclusivity.

Nowadays, replicas of the Porsche Carrera GTS or 904 are being produced. This just shows how much of an impact this race car made to the automotive world. It’s just too bad that Porsche decided to produce only a limited number of units. We sure would’ve loved to have one of these babies parked in our backyard.

Source: Wikipedia