'Ultimate customer Group C car': Final Porsche-made 962 up for sale

177 finished a respectable 10th at the 1991 Le Mans (driven by team owner Walter Brun, Jésus Pareja and Oscar Larrauri) and seventh at Nürburgring, 12th at Magny-Cours and eighth at the Mexico 430km.

In addition to multitude of successes, a modified Dauer road car version of the 962 took one final victory in 1994 for a marque by now synonymous with the blue riband enduro.

Vanbockryck explains what made the 962 such an enduring success for both the pros and the weekend warriors.

“One of the fun things for customers, at least with Porsche, is that they [usually] build a car which is superior to the competition, but not exotic,” he says.

“It’s extremely effective in its simplicity. Regular team mechanics, engineers and gentlemen drivers could race it and can work on it without having to reinvent the wheel, basically.

“That’s always been Porsche’s forte, because their business model has always been: motor sport has to be paid for to a large extent by sales to rich customers – you can see that today with the 963 LMDh.

“This 177 example is exactly what the final 962 customers would have received in 1991.”

Though the estimate is set at €1.2m-€1.5m (£1m-£1.3m) Vanbockryck says the car’s apparent provenance as the ‘last’ Porsche and its restoration by the legendary Joest squad means the price could well be pushed beyond that.

“177 was obviously the final number – at the beginning of Le Mans 1991 the car was ceremoniously handed over to Walter Brun, with the car’s status notified on the rear wing,” says Vanbockryck

“This is the highest 962 chassis number allocated by Porsche because it switched their factory construction capacity to Formula 1 and IndyCar. The last 25 962s were actually made by Fabcar in the US – as well as another five made Stickel, a little-known aluminium fabricator in Germany.

“But the fact that 177 has been restored by Joest so meticulously will up the price, it’s a massive plus, [as well as] the fact that it’s the last one ‘officially’ – [even though] some other cars had bought before and actually officially sold later.”

This car was originally bought by racer/collector Helmut Schwingen as an investment, who then had the Brun team run it – a normal way of operating for the squad. When the car was restored, Schwingen had the Repsol-liveried car repainted by Joest in his own company’s FATurbo colours, which had adorned the above-mentioned ’94 Dauer winner, another car then in his collection – meaning the car now has a livery it never raced in.

Despite 177’s slightly convoluted provenance, Vanbockryck is in no doubt of what it represents.

“There has never been a more successful, purpose-built racecar than the Porsche 962 – ever.”

Porsche 962C Chassis 177 goes up for sale with RM Sotheby’s on January 31 in Paris. More information can be found here.