Brief History: 

Number 4 (of 8) GTRs fabricated by Fabcar (Dave Klym) for use in Trans Am and IMSA racing. Conceived by then Porsche Competition Director Al Holbert, his vision was that water cooled cars were going to be part of the future of Porsche Motorsports and that these “944’s” would “imprint” the significance of the 944/951 vehicles in the minds of Americans. The untimely passing of Al Holbert ended this “forward thinking” and air cooled race cars became the sole focus of Porsche Motorsports, which became headed up by Alwin Springer. This “complete reversal” of Porsche Racing’s direction made these eight cars, if not the rarest of all Porsche race cars, certainly the most unique, being the only eight vehicles (race or street cars) which never touched European soil. (Even in Porsche’s vast collection of vehicles, in Germany, does a single one of these cars exist.) Absolute Unicorns! The chassis (except for the mandatory stock 944 roof) was fabricated in the US. The fiberglass bodywork was created in the US by Verga, who Herman Miller Porsche contracted to fabricate. Every panel is original and retains the factory stickers embedded in the fiberglass. Porsche supplied the 935 centerlock wheel pieces, the brakes (twin front caliper from the 962 program), and the centerlock BBS wheels. Dave Klym’s shop fabricated a complete tube frame chassis around these pieces. Porsche supplied most of the engine castings, while many of the internal engine pieces were American made. Porsche was unable to supply 935 transmissions and thus these eight cars were equipped with Hewland transmissions. The axles were 935 pieces and the central torque tube was from a 928. The sunroof top is always a topic of interest. According to Dave Klym, when he got to the point of needing roofs, all that Porsche had, in stock, was the sunroof version. That’s what he received and used. The engine, in this car, was the last “official” 944GTR engine assembled by Andial. 2.5 liters running a maximum of 1.6 bar of boost (very conservative for today’s standards) produced between 675 to 750 horsepower, depending on what the twin 930 waste gates were set to. Twin injectors and a 935 Motronic control unit provide fuel (and spark), in the “later” 944GTRs. From the very beginning, these cars were supposed to be Motronic controlled. McLaren was responsible for assembling the original engines. When the engines were done, Porsche was unable to supply the racing Motronic pieces… because they were needed for the air cooled race cars. Al Holbert insisted that the cars needed to be run in the 1987 Trans Am series and had McLaren source an alternative injection/ignition system. (When this car was purchased it was still sitting in Dave Clem’s shop, without an engine. He “set” engine #001, with a Kugelfischer fuel system into the tub, just to get “rid” of the 944 GTR pieces. Of interest, this car was delivered from Fabcar with a Jones mechanical tach and a 934 Bosch C/D unit installed in it. These pieces indicate that this car was initially tested with a Kugelfischer injected engine. The history of this particular car is also very unique. One of two 944GTRs purchased by Alan Johnson Racing, this car was not campaigned in TransAm. Although Dave Clem insists that every single one of these cars was personally tested by Al Holbert, this car came with what appeared to be all brand new pieces, which made us believe that it had never been run. Dave said that this car, after testing, became the “US spare parts supply” and when the other cars needed spare parts, those parts were “robbed” from this car. The sometimes “obscure” pieces were then ordered from Porsche and installed on this car. This car remains “completely dry” with no fluids, to this day. There are a few, very obscure details, on this particular 944GTR. Look inside and note the spelling of “Porsche” on the official chassis number plate (on the dash). I pointed this out to Dave Klym, (at the 2011 Rennsport Reunion) who was terribly embarrassed. He insisted that he would send me a replacement dash chassis number plate, the following week. I just smiled and said that would be fine, but thought I’d leave the original plate intact. OOO Magazine did a fantastic article on this particular car, in issue #008. Beg, borrow, or purchase a copy to learn even more about this very unique “Porche”.