How many un-counted 1973 RS still out there??

[VinnyC]

Just Curious- ?
Are all 1580 1973 RS accounted for?
Should I keep my dreams of a 73RS Barn find alive??

[boba]

There are a least 3000 of the original 1500 still out there.
I think there are at least 3 #406, we know 2 have been found.

[fryardds]

My good friend, George K, found the last one several years ago so you can give up looking now.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showt...hlight=Carrera

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showt...hlight=Carrera

[j911brick]

There are a least 3000 of the original 1500 still out there.
I think there are at least 3 #406, we know 2 have been found.

Damn, you beat me to the punch!

[210bhp]

I can tell you to keep on looking.

In Jan 2007 a friend of mine (we both own RS's) phoned one night and said a guy who was unkown to both of us had phoned him to ask his advice on an RS he had found. He needed advice from someone who 'knew' RS's and had been given my friend's name. He claimed the car had been sitting unused for several years in a garage. Yeah, yeah said my friend 'I think when you get to the bottom of all this you will find it's unlikely to be an RS, probably a clone.'

No I am sure it's an RS, what do you think it might be worth? I have been looking for one for years.

Where is it? my friend asks

In Italy.

Have you any pictures?

No, but I wondered if you would fly out and help me look over it.

So my friend phoned me and said he was going on a wild goose chase to Italy for the weekend. Did I want to come?

No I Said, I am too busy at work, it's probably a replica anyway. I will leave it to you.

The very next day my friend emailed pictures from Italy. There was no doubt. There was a real RS, not seen the light of day for ten years or more. Owned by a recently deceased guy and his widow and daughter were trying to sell the car. The car was totally original, 66000miles from new and was for sale for a very affordable price. Everything checked out and a deal was done there and then. The car was transported back to the UK the following month and only needed a modest amount of tuning/cleaning and is now in full working order in VERY ORIGINAL condition. The original standard seats were put to one side for safe storage and I sold the new owner a very nice set of correct spare recaros I had which are now installed.


You can imagine when those photos came through to my computer I could have kicked myself for not going on the trip. So yes I advise you to still follow every lead you get. Even a sniff of a car, follow it up. You never know what you might stumble upon.

Regards
Mike

[pmjt]

Um, that was me

And here she is as we found her in the garage:




The business end:



Original 'non 409' seats as factory:



Steering wheel never changed:




I'll find some more images when I get back from China. The story goes:

I'm a member of another non-classic 911 only forum in the UK - and known for my bias to older 911's. A charming chap from the forum called me to say - would I be interested in a 6,000 mile 2.7RS, two owners from new? A lady who worked with him had lost her father and the family needed to sell - they'd been offered about €30,000 - roughly £20,000 and $40,000 at the time!

YES. However I was naturally cautious.

Pictures were sent over from Lucca of what appeared a genuine car having been left for many years, following the death of it's custodian.

I then realised that it was more like "6,000km's" showing - which having been round the clock was 106,000kms - or about 66,000 miles. While not for me, I knew a friend Nick (who owns a stunning Buggatti, BMW 328 and 1920's Vauxhall) had been looking for a 2.4S thinking an RS would be too many pennies.

He kindly invited me to go with him to look at the car in situ - I asked Mike if he was interested in joining? We took the world's worst flight over to Italy, hired a Punto and drove the 90 minutes to our destination.

We were greeted by 'mama' who spoke NO english but insisted in talking at Nick and I the whole time - which was charming, but ultimately pointless as we spoke no Italian

Elder daughter arrived with bambino - which kept mama occupied and we went down to the garage, under this lovely house. After ten minutes of finding the right key, light came in on this car for the first time in about five years.

Rather than just jump it - we took great care to research the car and concerned they were going to loose the sale, mama phoned the local mechanic to come and "show these silly english that it does run!".

Despite protest that it really wasn't a good idea - mechanic boosted the car and she spluttered, then settled into the perfect 911/83 rhythm We reviewed the history file, including letters to the factory from the late 70's and it transpired 'papa' had purchased the car from a client in Milan (the original owner) in 1978 and kept it until he passed away. The history was wonderfully complete - including owners manual, RS supplement (in Italian of course!) and a phone directory wad of invoices for regular care and maintenance.

A fair deal for Nick and the family was done, some pasta was eaten and a glass of wine to celebrate - then back to the airport and a scummy flight home reviewing digital photographs while grinning ear to ear.

The car now lives with it's owner and fellow rarities and is used regularly - and will probably pass to a new owner, only when Nick himself passes on!

So there are still some out there......

Oh - and for the doubters - commission numbers matched - she's the real thing

Philip

[vipergruen]

The fact that the car was in Italy makes me envious, but I'm happy it ended up in the hands of a real enthusiast.

I know of another find of this type of a late-number RS a couple of years ago, but unfortunately I feel the probabilities of this kind of findings are thinning down.

Ciao
A

[j911brick]

The funny thing is: the '73 RS really isn't that rare. If you put it into perspective: there were fewer '71 S coupes built; there were fewer '74 RS's built; and there only about 100 more '73 coupes built. And of all the long hood cars, there are probably more saved (accounted for) RS's, not to mention clones and replicas, than any other long hood 911 model. The version with the lowest production numbers on average seem to be the E's.

My friend just bought a '67 VW and were talking about the same thing. The '67 is considered rare and sought after, but they made about a million of them that year. How rare could it be?

[preS]

The funny thing is: the '73 RS really isn't that rare. If you put it into perspective: there were fewer '71 S coupes built; there were fewer '74 RS's built; and there only about 100 more '73 coupes built. And of all the long hood cars, there are probably more saved (accounted for) RS's, not to mention clones and replicas, than any other long hood 911 model. The version with the lowest production numbers on average seem to be the E's.

My friend just bought a '67 VW and were talking about the same thing. The '67 is considered rare and sought after, but they made about a million of them that year. How rare could it be?

I think it's (better to look at it as it's) rare in the light of the demand, like demand is 5x bigger than supply. This apparently is apparently less for for instance a 71S.

Just my $.02

Richard

[j911brick]

I think it's (better to look at it as it's) rare in the light of the demand, like demand is 5x bigger than supply. This apparently is apparently less for for instance a 71S.

Just my $.02

Richard

Yes, you are correct. But is demand so high because its perceived to be rare? It couldn't be because of the superior performance of the RS because there have been many 911s that will out perform the RS. So, could this just be a case of what they call in the sales profession "the bandwagon close", where the buyer is convinced he needs one because everybody else is getting one?