Meet the Fleet – Sportscars: Porsche 904 Carrera GTS

• BODY: Aurora
• WHEELS: Vincent
• TIRES: Road Race Replicas

While this is not the first of the original Aurora bodies I added to my collection, it is one of the earlier ones that I bought. I have acquired 4 copies of this body to date; two of them were conversions from Cigar Box freewheelers, but this is one of the two that were originally slot cars. This off-white version was the first one I obtained; I bought it as a body only, and while I don’t remember the dollar figure attached to it, I’m sure it was very low-a lot lower than it would cost now!

As you can see from these pics, this car a little beat up; it definitely bears the scars of many years of racing, both those I bought it with and the ones I’ve added. It went through a few different iterations of wheels and tires before I settled on the combination it wears today: the Vincent “Steels” in red. This creates a nice complement to the off-white body with the simple red stripe. Other than dotting the tail lights with red and of course adding the racing number, I did little to the body until late last year, when I added the cool looking headlight decals courtesy of-you guessed it!-Road Race Replicas! They really dress the car up a lot and make the whole thing come together.

As you can see, the proportions of this body are not the greatest; in comparison to the diminutive real car, this model looks longer and heavier and its large wheel wells, while inviting the full size tires it wears, give it an almost truck-like stance which doesn’t much resemble the real thing. While I’ll admit it’s not one of Aurora’s better designs, I like it anyway; it doesn’t look too much like the real car but it still looks pretty good, and to my eye, you can still tell what it is by the details. The 904 is a legend, but it is not an easy car to live with: its “flat” 4 cylinder, 4 camshaft engine has been referred to as “probably the most complex four-cylinder ever.” Displacing roughly 120 cubic inches and topped with twin dual-barrel Weber downdraft carbs (one barrel per cylinder!) the engine had no radiator or water jacket-it was entirely air-cooled in the best vintage Porsche tradition, and drove one of 4 potential rear axle ratios via a 5 speed transmission. Extensive use of aluminum and magnesium in the car’s construction as well as the air-cooled design made it feather-light, and with the right final drive ratio was capable of up to 160 MPH, an astonishing top speed for such a small car with such a small engine. In addition to this, it was quite durable on the track in spite of its high-tech complexity, and held together well under stress. 904’s stormed to victory in road races all over Europe in 1964 and ’65, but their tenure was brief, and by 1966 it was replaced with the larger, six-cylinder model 906.

Our featured car is a 1964 model named “Blitz” and bears racing number 21. She is driven by New York born and bred Paul “Rusty” Ranger, who’s red hair belies a well-to-do upbringing and a cool demeanor on the track, learned from a long family line of racing drivers with a storied history at Watkins Glen. “Rusty” is often seen in an almost relaxed pose behind the wheel while driving, back flat against the seatback, easing his car through the turns with the light touch that a cool headed and quick thinking driver needs. That kind of poise wins races, and “Blitz” has multiple wins and a tournament trophy to show for it. Although she’s a high mileage beast with a lot of racing history and the scars to prove it, her patina has won the hearts of many race fans, and even up against cars with twice the engine displacement, she is a force to be reckoned with.