One to Buy: unraced ex-Mitsuwa Motors 1981 Porsche 924 Carrera GTR
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With Porsche expected to permanently drop the 911 which was no longer being raced, management decided to take the entry-level 924 racing and sprinkle a little stardust on the somewhat maligned model.
To this end, following the launch of a turbocharged 924 at Geneva in March 1979, a Carrera GT-badged Group 4 homologation special was unveiled six months later. Production of the Carrera GT began the following June, the same month that a trio of factory supported 924s finished sixth, twelfth and thirteenth overall at Le Mans.
In addition to the regular Carrera GT, 400 of which had to be built to qualify for the Group 4 category, Porsche also offered a further enhanced GTS suitable for road or competition use and the race-only GTR which went on to have a successful on-track career.
Just 17 examples of the 924 Carrera GTR were built by Porsche, a remarkable example of which, chassis 72010, is heading for Bonhams Scottsdale auction in Arizona on January 25th.
Chassis 72010 was supplied new in 1981 to Porsche’s Japanese distributor, the Mitsuwa Motor Co. Ltd. of Tokyo, with whom it remained, un-raced, until 1983. At this point, the still delivery mileage GTR was sold to a Japanese collector who preserved it for the next couple of decades.
By 2016, chassis 72010 had found its way to the UK and had still reputedly covered only 109km. Since then, the car has been exported to the Unites States where it currently resides.
