VIN: the works / Henri Balas / Victor Blanc Porsche 911 2.0 R chassis 307670S R4
History of chassis 307670S R4
Chassis 307670 S, better known as R4, was the last of four 911 R prototypes that served as the basis for a subsequent batch of 20 production examples.
Built in mid 1967, the Lemon Yellow car was initially registered S-C 9200.
Porsche never raced or rallied R4. The still low mileage car was sold on May 12th 1969 to the French Porsche distributor, Sonauto in Levallois. From here, R4 was almost immediately dispatched to Etablissement Balas in Grenoble run by occasional race, Henri Balas.
In turn, Balas quickly sold R4 to French privateer, Victor Blanc, who entered the car for the 1969 Ronde Cevenole Rally, a 420km all-tarmac event that took place over June 8th and 9th. Drivers normally appeared without a navigator, as was the case with Blanc and R4.
Blanc was not classified among the event’s top 60 finishers; some reports state that R4 suffered an engine failure and the power unit was subsequently rebuilt by Heinz Schiller in Switzerland.
Regardless, it transpired that Victor Blanc did not keep up the repayments owed on R4 and the car was returned to Henri Balas.
Unable to find a buyer for the extremely specialised machine, Balas entered R4 into Lyon auction scheduled for October 15th 1970. By this stage, the car had a little over 2300km on the clock.
However, the day before the event, R4 was stolen while out on a test drive.
The car was ultimately discovered in March 1971; it had been hidden away in a Marseille warehouse and was found with a damaged engine and no seats. An additional 400km or so had been added to the odometer.
R4 was returned to Henri Balas who stored the non-running car until 1991. At this point it was sold to a UK collector and restored.
Notable History
Porsche System
Registered S-C 9200
Test car and prototype for 911 R production version
12/05/1969 sold to Sonauto, Levallois
Sold to Henri Balas, Grenoble
Sold to Victor Blanc
08/06/1969 IND Ronde Cevenole (V. Blanc) ran (#69)
Returned to Henri Balas as Blanc could not keep up repayments
10/1970 stolen
03/1971 discovered in Marseille and returned to Henri Balas
Stored until 1991 then sold and then restored
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: Porsche - https://www.porsche.com
