Your perfect Porsche?
There are Porsche 911s, and then there are Porsche 911s.
This example has the double appeal of being a rare model and coming from the ownership of a celebrity – in this case, British singer-songwriter Jay Kay, from the band Jamiroquai.
It is well known that he is a true car enthusiast with an enviable collection, but now it is time to let this one go, and he is selling it via marque specialist JZM Porsche, in Hertfordshire, UK.
A safe pair of hands
Over the years, JZM Porsche has been trusted with the sale of several cars from Jay Kay’s collection.
And not just Porsches, classic cars from Mercedes-Benz, Land-Rover and BMW, too.
High times
Jay Kay is known for his colorful stage attire and also his extravagant headgear, so maybe it is no surprise that his Porsche 911 is such an eye-catching shade.
His car is being offered for sale at £585,000 (cUS$773,400 at the time of writing), so let’s find out more about it.
The low-down
This is a 1973 Porsche 911 Carrera RS 2.7 Touring M472.
It is a UK-supplied, right-hand-drive example, first registered in January 1973. Today, chassis number 0283 has 97,475 miles on its odometer.
Blue beauty
And that paintwork isn’t just striking – it is rare, too.
It is called Dalmatian Blue, it is the color the car wore when it left the factory and it is thought that just three examples were finished in this hue.
We are sure this is just one of many reasons why Jay Kay has owned this car for more than 20 years.
The hot seat
It is a bit more mellow inside, with a black-trimmed cabin.
There’s a manual gearbox, Recaro sports seats, and the sunroof and windows are electrically powered.
Early bird
Porsche developed the 911 Carrera RS 2.7 as a homologation special, planning at first to build just 500 road-legal examples of the marque’s Group 4 race cars.
This 911, chassis number 0283, is special because it is one of those first 500 cars.
Blow your mind
The Porsche 911 Carrera RS 2.7 was launched at the October 1972 Paris motor show and, at that time, it was the fastest German production car that had ever been built.
Its 210HP, 2.7-liter, flat-six, fuel-injected engine meant it could do 0-62mph in 5.8 secs, en route to a 152mph top speed – and this was 53 years ago.
New name
The Porsche 911 Carrera RS 2.7 was also the first 911 with the ‘Carrera’ name, taken from the Mexican Carrera Panamericana road race.
Porsche claimed a class victory in the event’s 1953 edition with a 550 Coupe driven by José Sala Herrarte Ariano and Carlos A González.
Then, in 1954, Hans Herrmann piloted a Porsche 550 Spyder to third overall. This was the final running of the perilous Carrera Panamericana, in its original format.
Of course, the ‘RS’ part of the name stands for rennsport – or ‘race sport’ in German.
Aero addenda
One of this model’s most famous features is its ‘ducktail’ rear spoiler, designed for the RS 2.7 because it was experiencing too much lift, making it unstable and unpredictable at high speeds.
According to Porsche, this now-famous item was initially intended as a retrofit kit for 911 customers.
Instead, the new 911 Carrera RS 2.7 was fitted with the combination of front and rear spoiler as standard – a production-model first.
It was a solution to an engineering problem that became a style icon.
Feels just like it should
The 911 Carrera RS 2.7 was also the first series-production Porsche to have tires of different sizes for its front and rear.
It wore 6Jx15 Fuchs wheels with 185/70 VR15 tires at the front, and 7Jx15 wheels with 215/60 VR15 tires out back.
Eked out
To accommodate these wheels and tires, Porsche had to widen the car’s body by 42mm (1.7in) at the rear, around the wheelarches.
This helped give the 911 Carrera RS 2.7 its distinctive stance.
The start of something big
Of course, these first 500 homologation-special 911 Carrera RS 2.7s were not the end of the story.
But it makes the earliest examples, such as the one pictured here, all the more significant.
Lights, camera, action
Jay Kay knew he was buying a piece of Porsche history.
And he added to this example’s story when it featured in the music video for Jamiroquai’s 2010 single White Knuckle Ride.
Back to best
This Porsche might have done more than 97,000 miles, but it has been well-cared for.
In May 1993, it was the subject of a full restoration, which included a respray in its original Dalmatian Blue.
This 911’s engine was also stripped and overhauled by the marque specialists at Prestige Porsche of Dartford, Kent, UK.
You give me something
The Touring specification of this car, which was registered a mere three months after the Carrera RS 2.7 broke cover in Paris, means its next, lucky keeper will be able to enjoy the thrill of its performance with a touch of day-to-day usability.
The best of both worlds?
Supersonic
Today, we are told that this matching-numbers example is in first-rate condition.
It will be sold with a complete service history which documents the care and time that’s been lavished upon it from its early years.
Time to move on
This 1973 Porsche 911 Carrera RS 2.7 is definitely not virtual insanity – apologies, we couldn’t resist.
We hope its next custodian enjoys it, but also keeps it in fantastic condition.
It is being offered for sale right now by Hertfordshire-based JZM Porsche, in the UK.
We hope you enjoyed this gallery. Please click the ‘Follow’ button above for more super stories from Classic & Sports Car.