1965 Porsche 356c Barn Find, Unrestored on 2040-cars

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Porsche 911 R is made for the purist

Who wouldn't welcome a new version of the Porsche 911 with ultra-light weight, a GT3 RS motor, a stripper interior, and a core philosophy of driving fun over outright lap times? The iconic Porsche 911 has been getting larger and more complicated with each passing generation, and that hasn't sat well with every engineer at Porsche. So there's a ready market out there for 911 R, a limited-edition show stopper of just 911 cars, due to start production in Zuffenhausen, Germany, in May. It's a car that combines a unique version of the six-speed manual gearbox, plenty of raw, naturally aspirated flat-six power, and all the feel of a cut-price version of the 911 GT3 RS pseudo racer. Yes, Porsche is bringing the beloved six-speed stick back to the sharp end of the 911, even though the brand's quickest cars are now dominated by the seven-speed dual-clutch transmission (and the less loved seven-speed manual). Porsche insists that the RS is still the 911 to have if it's stopwatch-bashing you need to do. Instead, the 911 R developers focused on trying to give it the most driving purity it could cram in. The most traditional way for motorsport operations to do that has always been to rip out weight. And Porsche Motorsport didn't diverge from the plan. The 911's rear seats have been thrown out, along with a raft of other pieces Porsche Motorsport thought it could either do without completely, redesign to be lighter or stronger, or both. View 18 Photos The R cuts 110 pounds from the next-lightest 911 variant, hitting 3,020 pounds on the scales. The pound-cutting starts at the body and bores all the way into the 911 R's chassis components, though there are some obvious nods to the marketing department that survived the dietician's axe. There is a lot of 911 GT3 in the body, with a combination of a carbon fiber (bonnet and front guards), a magnesium roof, polycarbonate front and side "glass," and aluminum everywhere else. The R cuts 110 pounds from the next-lightest 911 variant, hitting 3,020 pounds on the scales. While the 911 R has lurid (and deletable) red or green racing stripes as standard, it's not supposed to be as wild looking as the GT3. Porsche replaced the GT3's adjustable, tall-standing rear spoiler with a more-subtle pop-up version, and the R uses a rear diffuser under the bumper to offset any loss of rear downforce. The rear seats are gone, and the two remaining seats use carbon fiber shells upholstered in tartan cloth (another nod to early 911s).

Jerry Seinfeld is selling three rare and valuable Porsches

Jerry Seinfeld, whose car guy status has come to the fore in the post-Seinfeld universe with Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, is selling a few of his Porsches. If you're expecting half-completed restoration candidates or tired old 930s, you're mistaken. What Seinfeld considers excess, most Porsche museums would jump up and down for ... and they might. But they'll have to bid. The three-lot Seinfeld Collection will be the highlight of the Amelia Island Auction by Gooding & Company on March 11th. At the top of the pre-auction estimate heap is a 1955 550 Spyder, one of the most coveted road cars the company made. It could go for $6m or more, and it's an interesting and lovely shade of blue. A seafoam green 1958 356 A GS/GT Carrera Speedster could bring $2.5m, and appears to still be stripped-down and set up for racing, as it would have been originally. And at the bottom of the heap is the 1974 911 Carrera 3.0 IROC RSR once driven by Peter Revson in the famous Roger Penske International Race of Champions. It should bring something north of $1m. Why is Seinfeld selling these rare and desirable Porsches? According to the comedian, it's simply time to send some of his collection "back into the world, for someone else to enjoy, as I have." Fair enough, although with the celebrity name attached to the auction, that enjoyment isn't going to come cheaply. Related Video: Gooding & Company Announces an Unprecedented Offering From the Esteemed Jerry Seinfeld Collection to Headline Amelia Island Auction Three highlights from the collection will be on display at the company's Scottsdale Auctions – the 1955 Porsche 550 Spyder, 1958 Porsche 356 A 1500 GS/GT Carrera Speedster and 1974 Porsche 911 Carrera 3.0 IROC RSR SANTA MONICA, Calif. (January 19, 2015) – Gooding & Company, the auction house acclaimed for selling the world's most significant and valuable collector cars with the tradition of presenting some of the greatest collections to ever come to market, is honored to announce a selection of consignments from The Jerry Seinfeld Collection to be sold at the Amelia Island Auction on March 11, 2016. A sampling of this exceptional collection will feature three historic Porsches at Gooding & Company's annual Scottsdale Auctions marquee beginning January 27, 2016.

Roger Rodas' Widow Suing Porsche Over Carrera GT Crash

Investigations undertaken by local law enforcement may have vindicated Porsche from any wrongdoing in the crash that killed actor Paul Walker and racing driver Roger Rodas last year, but the latter's widow is apparently not convinced. According to emerging reports, Kristine Rodas has filed a lawsuit seeking unspecified damages from Porsche Cars North America. In her suit filed with the Los Angeles Superior Court, Rodas' attorney Mark Geragos reportedly disputes the findings of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, which asserted that the vehicle was traveling at an unsafe speed of 90 miles per hour on city streets, identifying the speed as the cause of the accident. Instead the lawsuit claims that the vehicle was only going 55 mph and that the cause of the crash was improper equipment – namely a faulty right rear suspension and the lack of a crash cage and proper fuel tank. "The Carrera GT was unsafe for its intended use by reason of defects in its manufacture, design, testing, component and constituents, so that it would not safely serve its purpose," according to the specifics of the suit obtained by the Los Angeles Times. When reached for comment, Porsche Cars North America spokesman Nick Twork told Autoblog: We are very sorry for the Rodas and Walker family's loss. The crash was the subject of a detailed investigation by the proper authorities (L.A. County Sheriff and California Highway Patrol), and their investigation disproves the allegations in the lawsuit. The investigation found that driving at a high speed in a negligent manner caused the crash and concluded that there was no mechanical defect. The Carrera GT is known as a difficult car to drive. As the LA Times report points out, Jay Leno spun one at Talladega in 2005, and the following year, Porsche paid part of a multi-million-dollar settlement after two were killed on a track when their Carrera GT struck a slower-moving Ferrari. The Rodas lawsuit could very well point to that previous suit from San Diego Superior Court. Whether the court in LA will hand down a similar ruling remains to be seen.