VIN: Porsche 935 chassis 007
History of chassis 935 007
Chassis 007 was the last works 935 produced.
Porsche assembled 007’s tub and subframe assemblies so that in the event chassis 006 (their 1978 race car) incurred heavy damage, 007 could have been pressed into service. As it transpired, this was not necessary, so Porsche reputedly made tentative plans late in the year for 007 to be developed into an even more extreme 935 for 1979.
However, when Martini decided to pull the plug on motor racing sponsorship in late 1978, Porsche dropped their plans for any further sports car racing.
Chassis 006 headed to the Porsche Museum.
Meanwhile, the unfinished 007 was placed into the firm’s storage facility at Korntal where it remained for the next ten years.
During the mid 1980s, American Porsche collector and restorer, Kerry Morse, made several attempts to purchase 007. He was eventually successful and, in September 1988, the car left Germany for Morse’s workshop in Irvine, California.
Chassis 007 remained in its shipping crate at Morse’s premises while he gathered as many parts as possible. This was obviously a difficult task as only one 935 / 78 had ever been completed.
However, in 1981, Reinhold Joest had built a small number of air-cooled 935 / 78 replicas using factory-supplied drawings. Kerry Morse was able to source several parts from Joest, but 20 years later he was still a good way short of everything required.
With this in mind, Morse decided to sell the car to Porsche expert, Manfred Freisinger, in Karlsruhe, Germany.
Several years earlier, Freisinger had acquired a substantial number of new old stock racing parts from Porsche. Among this haul had been nearly all the parts required to finish 007 to include one of the spare DOHC 24 valve motors.
Chassis 007 was finally completed in 2011, since which time it has raced in several historic events.
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: Freisinger Motorsport - https://www.freisinger-motorsport.de/porsche/uk/
