Belgian police's Porsche 911 under the hammer
https://www.spiegel.de/auto/fahrkult...8-bf22a1c79b2b
https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/261...ngth=96&page=1
Belgian police's Porsche 911 under the hammer
The secret weapon
Under the hammer: One of a total of 20 Porsche 911 Targa, built in 1976, which were specially made for the Belgian gendarmerie.
Why bid? Sports cars with flashing lights on the roof have an almost mystical aura. Nowadays, Porsche and Lamborghini are in police service - apart from the police cars in Dubai and various computer games - usually more of a PR gag than a real emergency vehicle. But that was not always so.
Before inconspicuous but extremely powerful limousines could keep up with most sports cars on highways, highway police in various countries fought fire with fire - and deployed specially converted, two-door sports cars. The Porsche 911, which was equipped with flashing lights and sirens in several countries, was particularly popular with police units all over Europe. In total, over a thousand Porsche vehicles were delivered to police authorities around the world.
In the early 1960s, serious accidents occurred on the Dutch motorways due to the lack of speed limits. The Rijkspolitie was supposed to solve this problem with fast and equally reliable patrol cars, which should also have an open top so that the police could get up in the car to regulate the traffic. The decision was therefore made in favor of the Porsche 356, which was later replaced by the 911 and remained part of the vehicle fleet of the Dutch police until 1996.
A total of 507 Porsches were in use for the Rijkspolitie, which, according to the manufacturer, made their fleet the largest historical fleet of police Porsches. Probably the most exclusive service Porsche, however, was driven by the gendarmerie in neighboring Belgium.
In 1976 the authority of the comparatively small state received 20 sports cars specially made for them from Zuffenhausen. Outwardly, the white vehicles with a distinctive orange stripe were standard Porsche 911s. In fact, there was a surprise lurking under the sheet metal cladding in the form of the 210 hp engine from the Carrera 2.7.
This machine, which originated from the racing homologation model RS 2.7 of the predecessor model, recognizable by the characteristic spoiler known as the "duck tail", was only available in the 911 Carrera 2.7 at the time. Of course, the gendarmerie could have simply ordered several RS models a few years earlier, or 20 standard 911 Carrera 2.7s in 1976. Both were obviously too conspicuous for the gendarmerie, because they are comparatively easy to recognize: the RS on the duck's tail, the Carrera on the wider fenders.
In order to get a police car that was as fast as possible, but at the same time, well, inconspicuous from the outside, 20 copies of the narrow standard version of the 911 were ordered, in which the 210 hp machine of the RS model was. According to the auction house Bonhams, which is now auctioning one of these exclusive emergency vehicles, the Belgian police special models are the only 911 with a narrow body and RS engine that were built by Porsche - and at that time they were the ones with a top speed of 240 kilometers per hour probably the fastest police car in the world.
As in the Netherlands, the Targa roof was used for road safety. If you remove the partial roof, the passenger can stand in the car - and thus better regulate traffic. But that was not the only reason why the everyday work of the extravagant police cars was not very glamorous. According to the collector Ari Epstein , the 911s were in use almost non-stop. This working rhythm even went so far that the crew simply let the engine run when changing shifts in the area while the next crew got on and drove off.
Due to the continuous use, the police 911 came, according to Epstein, on mileage of 300,000 to 500,000 kilometers. In order to keep the wagons ready for use despite the high load, the gendarmerie had their own mechanics for the wagons - but only a few copies survived the service period. Everyday work and accidents decimated the originally 20 Belgian police Carrera, today, according to the Bonhams auction house, there are only five left.
Surcharge! The Bonhams auction house is auctioning the Police 911 on October 11 in Knokke-Heist, Belgium. A price of around 210,000 euros is expected. There is a rare police car for this - as well as a copy of a certificate. They received the gendarmes when they had completed a special driving course. Without passing the participation, they were not allowed to drive the 911 in action.
