Images: Girardo & Co
This mighty 1978 Porsche 935 K3 boasts an impressive period career that includes second overall in the 1980 24 Hours of Daytona. It’s up for sale at Girardo & Co.
The car, chassis 890 0021, began its life with the Interscope Racing Team, who debuted it at Road Atlanta in the Camel GT Challenge in 1978. Danny Ongais drove it to second place in that race, piloting it once more at Laguna Seca in the Monterey Triple Crown before Ted Field took over the drivers seat for three more rounds that season.
1979 opened with the 24 Hours of Daytona, which began a little strangely for the car. Danny Ongais, Ted Field and Milt Minter qualified the car in 11th, but it was bought by future Daytona-winner Preston Henn before the race began. Henn would take Milt Minter’s seat on the team but, after a big lose, ended up bringing it back into the pits and retiring it from the race.
The car’s next outing was another American icon – the 12 Hours of Sebring, where it ran under Henn’s Thunderbird Swap Shop team. Henn hired Hurley Haywood for the race – a move that paid dividends when Haywood put the car on the front row of the grid in second. Despite leading for some time it would be a rough race, with the car ending up retiring with gearbox failure.
After a competitive 1979 season, running a further thirteen times, Henn gave the car Chuck Gaa to upgrade to Kremer’s K3 specification.
1980 began much like 1979, with the car heading to the 24 Hours of Daytona for another run at the classic race, this time piloted by John Paul Senior and Al Holbert, with Preston Henn also taking a seat on the driver’s team. The team qualified the car in lucky thirteenth, but a broken oil line forced it into the pits early in proceedings. Once that was fixed, however, it was smooth sailing and the car went the distance, climbing up to second along the way for its career best result. Fourth in the 12 Hours of Sebring followed along with victory in the Coca-Cola 400 at Lime Rock mid-way through the year.
0021 would continue to compete with Preston Henn until 1982, when he traded it with Porsche tuners Andial. Monte Shelton bought it in 1986 and remained its custodian all the way through to 2006, when it went back to Europe with Carlos Barbot. Barbot secured its FIA papers and ordered a full restoration by Roitmayer in Germany.
The car was purchased by its current owner in 2014. After running in the 2016 Spa Classic, its motor was sent for a full rebuild, rebuilding the turbos and oil pump and fitting new barrels, pistons, rocker arms, camshafts and valves. With just a 45-minute shakedown on the motor since then, the car is in magnificent racing condition and will be welcome at historic events world wide. Head to the official Girardo & Co website for the full details.
Images: Girardo & Co
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