Legendary Porsche Type 64 heading for auction

The oldest car to wear the Porsche badge is to go under the hammer at RM Sotheby’s Monterey Car Week sale in August.

Designed by Professor Ferdinand Porsche to compete in the 1939 Berlin-Rome race, it’s the only surviving car of its type and is the direct ancestor of the iconic 356.

Just three advanced lightweight Porsche Type 64 racers were built using many components of the KdF-Wagen – the vehicle that would become the Volkswagen Beetle.

However, the 1,500km Berlin-Rome race, scheduled for September 1939, never took place because World War 2 broke out that same month.

Ferdinand Porsche was forced to shift focus to a car for the masses – the KdF-Wagen – but he retained a vision to produce a lighter, faster version of the model that would showcase the nation’s technology and realise his sports car dreams.

“Without the Type 64, there would be no Porsche 356, no 550, no 911,” says Marcus Görig, Car Specialist, RM Sotheby’s.

“This is Porsche’s origin story, the car that birthed the company’s legend, and it offers collectors what is likely an unrepeatable opportunity to sit in the seat of Ferdinand and Ferry Porsche. With this car, the new owner will not only be invited to the first row of every Porsche event worldwide — they will be the first row!”