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Listening to this 1982 Porsche 956 May Give You a Hint of Its $9 Million Price Tag

Rarely do you get to hear racing memorabilia at its best. Sure, you can watch videos filmed in the past, follow documentaries and even meet retired drivers at various events. Owning one of Porsche’s iconic race machines, now that is something else. It doesn’t get much more exclusive than this 1982 Porsche 956.
1982 Porsche 956 10 photos
Photo: Gooding’s Pebble Beach
1982 Porsche 956 May Give You a Hint of Its $9 Million Price Tag1982 Porsche 956 May Give You a Hint of Its $9 Million Price Tag1982 Porsche 956 May Give You a Hint of Its $9 Million Price Tag1982 Porsche 956 May Give You a Hint of Its $9 Million Price Tag1982 Porsche 956 May Give You a Hint of Its $9 Million Price Tag1982 Porsche 956 May Give You a Hint of Its $9 Million Price Tag1982 Porsche 956 May Give You a Hint of Its $9 Million Price Tag1982 Porsche 956 May Give You a Hint of Its $9 Million Price Tag1982 Porsche 956 May Give You a Hint of Its $9 Million Price Tag
We could mention that Stefan Bellof in 1983 drove this rare piece of machinery. We may even tell you that Porsche fielded three of its works 956s, all wearing an attractive new livery with sponsorship from the Rothmans cigarette company, especially for the 1982 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The team has utterly dominated the race, with the works 956s crossing the finish line together in a magnificent 1-2-3 finish, and the Porsche 935s taking 4th and 5th Place. The 956-003 placed 2nd, with 956-002 taking the laurels.

Again we could talk about all these facts that set Porsche’s best year in motorsport, but it still would be nothing like the impressive sound this beast makes when it hits the track. The 24 Hours of Le Mans race that year will forever be remembered as a high-point in Porsche’s racing history, with 956s taking nine of the top 10 positions.

It doesn't get any rarer than this

After its racing career, 956-003 was retired to the Porsche factory collection. As Porsche already owned the first 956 to win Le Mans, 956-002 and had promising new 962s waiting in the wings, it decided to sell four of the works 956s. The only way to get one was being among the winners of Le Mans in a 956, which meant each of the four cars went to Icks and Bell, with Schuppan acquiring both 956-003 and 956-009.

The 1982 Le Mans champ, namely the one in question, remained in the racer’s collection until 1996 when it moved back on the market. Further esteemed collectors have had it for years, and now the rare beauty is once again going under the hammer, heading to Gooding’s Pebble Beach auction later this month.

Still not convinced? What if we told this is was the first Porsche ever built to utilize an aluminum monocoque chassis, rather than traditional tubular space-frame construction. It also among the first sportscars to use state-of-the-art ground effects to develop significant downforce at high speeds.

Again, the auction house estimates the rare machine will fetch anything from $7 million to $9 million (€6.4-8.25 mil), but watching the video is probably the only thing you can do to truly understand why.

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