This 1968 Porsche 911L Was Just A Dream

This is one of the rarest Porsche race car back in 67/68, the 911L 901/30 that made me love 911s. These 901/30 engines were available on 911L only, something around 20 units. That engine was delivering 185HP, and that same car had a race palmares like no other and competed until 1970. Bruce Wetanson, Bruce Jennings among others raced those 911L. as FIA group 2 back, as there was a breach in the FIA rules. Remember, it was often Porsche 911 were stock and raced by gentlemen. On top those 911L were benefiting parts from the infamous Sport Purpose manual, allowing buyers to order Porsche Motorsport parts directly from the factory. So no, that 911L is not any similar to other regular ones. I own a 911L with a 901/54 gearbox and an upgraded 1968 S engine delivering 172 HP, a blast to drive. All the best.

Does he read Word Up magazine though? Maybe some Salt’n’Pepa and Heavy D up in the limousine…I’ll see myself out.

can you guys tell me the name of the first music? the main one i know, its a porsche 911 🙂

Really nice 911 and video. So Cal is always a great place to run and film these cars. One observation is that Spike over-clutched while shifting, early in the video. We have all done this at some point in our driving but spike did it on film!

I liked it quite a bit, so maybe it isn’t the rarest of rare Porsches, but a cool car, cool owner, interesting backstory, solid Petrolicious video! I think the comments on this one are indicating that as an audience we are getting pretty spoiled by this site, keep up the good work!

I enjoy these Petrolicious videos so much that I am never negative about any of the content. And this video really is lushly filmed with beautiful footage of an iconic 911 in the hills near Malibu. However, the narrative on this video I find, well, simply odd. This is an almost stock ‘luxury’ model 911, with a roll bar, and some very light modifications for stock racing, like the open exhaust. The car is not a 911 T/R. It is not even a 911S. So of course you can drive it to get groceries. It is almost a dead-stock car. It was designed and built to take the kids to school. An “L” weighs, with the roll bar, somewhere in excess of 2,350 pounds. With the “L” drtird smog legal engine it produces about 130 horse power. (The S engine does 160). The wheels are rather narrow. People do race almost completely stock cars. But racing a car in almost ‘stock’ trim does not make a mass production car that is almost ‘stock’, a ‘race’ car. The power to weight on this 911L is not particularly exciting. A base model US Spec ND Miata is significantly higher. The torsion bar suspension cannot easily be changed, so that would be in ‘Luxus’ trim. Spike is puzzling over the fact that a rather ordinary 1968 US specification 911, save for the advertising history and the open exhaust, can be used in a ordinary way. What’s to puzzle about? The handling is not going to be particularly exciting. A street legal NA or NB Miata tuned by one of Southern California’s exceedingly competent speed shops, would have more far more grip. I thought this series was bout cars, not about how many entertainment industry names you can mention in 8 minutes. In terms of the driving, at minute 4:58 Spike rounds a tight corner, not particularly quickly, and he over steers. At 4:59 he over-corrects. And at 5:00 he corrects from his correction. All this in a rather simple hair pin turn. The man is on camera. You would think he would be paying attention. In the Petrolicious series, we have heard some wonderful narratives about cars, their design, engineering, and the community of people who maintain mid-century performance cars. We have heard people who in every fiber of the being ‘know’ cars. And we have also seen some superb driving. And I look forward to videos that return to a focus on cars and the people who truly know them.

Lovely video. Spike and Petrolicious are fantastic storytellers in both video and word. The provenance of the car helps too. Thanks.

double thumbs up for:
protoagonist + photography + sound+ setting + story

A great big HUH?
My first Porsche was a 911L
No 911Ss for 1968 went to the USA, it was the smogged (with backfiring air pump) for 1968 only 911L (luxury).
They are NOT race cars

Another great video – Petrolicious seems to excel when a Porsche is involved.

Yeah, great video and car.
I think its great that the best noise is just simply the engine performing.
No gimmicks required to make motoring music.

What a lucky lad. Spike buys a used car on a car lot.
It turns out to be something with huge provenance.
What are the odds of that ever happening again?
Nice production Valkyr/Petro