See this beautiful ride, it's a Porsche RS Carrera Lightweight replica based on a 1972 911e – we got it absolutely FREE!

At Amelia Island (2015) a 1973 Porsche 911 Carrera 2.7 RS Lightweight was sold for a record setting $1,402,500. 

So what do you do, if you desperately want a 1973 RS, but you’re not the boss of an international drug cartel?

Well, you can always build your own Porsche 911 RS 2.7 replica. In theory it is simple.

Buy a Porsche 911 coupe produced between 1969 and 1973. That will give you a long wheelbase car without the impact bumpers of later models.

Install RS flares in the back along with wider wheels. 7×15” or 8×15” if you are going for originality or 16” if you want more tires choices. Put RS spoilers in the front and a duck tail in the rear. If you are serious about building a lightweight car you should consider fibreglass or carbon fibre hood and doors.

Strip the interior. Remove the clock and glove box. Remove all sound deadening under the carpets and replace them with lightweight felt carpets. Replace the door panels with RS panels. Remove the rear seats and install early Recaro seats in the front. 

The correct engine would be a 2.7 with mechanical fuel injection and full RS specs. But any high-revving 911 engine with aggressive camshafts would do. Most importantly: Paint the shroud red. As for the transmission you could lighten the flywheel and install a shorter ring and pinion and/or close gear ratios.

Put in sport shock absorbers, stiffer torsion bars and anti-roll bars. Bilstein offer a specific RS damper set which they claim has been tuned for the Nordschleife. 

The real deal used thinner gauge glass for the windscreen and windows. They can still be bought today but are hugely expensive. So consider Lexan or polycarbonate substitute as an alternative.

Voila. You have a Porsche 911 RS 2.7 replica. You’re done. Except of course you are not. You have just started on the slippery slope of less weight and more horsepower. So beware. Suddenly your very own Porsche 911 RS might become your very own coffin!

The Find

Currently, we are only aware of this loophole in the UK but if it's exploitable in other countries we’d love to hear from you. 

This incredible loophole was stumbled upon by accident:

If a car is abandoned on private property, (most car parks are private) it can eventually be claimed by any person willing to take it away.

This is the real life story of how I acquired the beautiful Porsche RS Carrera replica pictured above. It is actually a 1972 911e which at some time in its life enjoyed a complete rebuild including a widened back end, aluminum swing arm, lightened bodywork and sills and new duck tail…

I used to work in a boatyard on the South coast of England commissioning boats for the wealthy, dreaming about how one day I’d be the one ordering a new 50 footer. I’d constantly be on the look out for deals and managed to buy several abandoned cheap boats from boat yards. These were perfectly good machines and mostly be only a few years old.

People leave them for all sorts of reasons, the main being that they run into financial difficulties and can no longer afford the boatyard fees. Eventually, the fees can build up to such an extent that owners owe more than the value of the boat!

You can always spot them, they go green with moss and sit in the same place for several seasons. There is generally a clause in the boatyard’s agreement that if the customer can’t pay his fees the boat becomes the property of the yard. Now, the yard is only really interested in recouping the debt (which, incidentally is only rental for a patch of dirt!), so are quite approachable when you’re willing to take the boat on for a percentage of what is owed.

I bought several bargains this way, did them up and sold them on for a healthy profit.

One of the boats I picked up was eventually swapped for a nice Mercedes E280.

Having just done the deal I decided to visit some friends who worked in a yard I'd recently left to ‘show off’.

I popped in and friends duly gathered round to inspect the flashy new wheels. Whilst explaining how I'd managed to get such a nice car on boat builder’s wages one of the lads replied, “you’d be interested in that then!” Pointing at the old Porsche sitting in the yard car park.

She was looking a little sad, had been sat there for over a year and was covered in 'abandoned vehicle' stickers from the local council.

No one knew why it was left but theories ranged from: maybe the owner had sailed off and been lost at sea to, maybe the wheels were stuffed full of drugs and the smugglers had got the jitters and left it. (Not the type of inconspicuous car of choice for drug smugglers really!)

In the UK. if a car is abandoned on the street without tax there is a statutory period of time the owner has to move it before it’s towed away and either crushed or auctioned off.

When the council give notice, they put a sticker on the car and write to the registered keeper. The keeper is given several opportunities to remove the car. Now if it stays there you can be pretty sure the owner knows the situation and, for whatever reason, does not want the car.

In the case of the Porsche, I came on the scene when the first notice had been placed on the screen. Never one to miss a deal I set to work. My theory was, that if the owner no longer wanted it, what right did the council have to take it away? It would become mine!

First, I went to the local Police station. Helpful as ever, the cops said that there was no law to prevent an ‘abandoned’ car being taken so long as the owner had clearly demonstrated he was not going to, but would advise against it as “there may be outstanding fines!!!” Bloody typical cop advice!

Now, the council had been writing to the owner explaining the situation, therefore giving him ample opportunity to remove the vehicle. But, because our Porsche was on private land I decided to seek the permission of the owner to take it instead of the council in the event that the owner didn’t come to collect.

The conversation will stick with me for the rest of his life:

“Hi, what’s happening with that old abandoned Porsche over there.”

The reply was totally unexpected and music to Paul’s ears:

“Oh Gosh! Don’t talk to me about that thing, I wish somebody would just take it away!!!”

“Well I know just the man,” said Paul.

Remembering what the police had said ‘that there was no law to prevent an ‘abandoned’ car being taken so long as the owner had clearly demonstrated he was not going to‘, I decided to let the council do their ‘due diligence’ and clearly establish that the owner was not going to respond to demands to remove the car.

The process takes around a month. I collected all the notices from the screen as proof that the car had gone through the process and finally, between Christmas and New Year organised a car trailer to tow away the car.

Coincidently, as I arrived at the car park and was hitching up the motor to the trailer winch, the tow man from the council arrived.

I explained that I had established that the owner was not going to remove it and I had permission from the boatyard so it was going home with me.

The Council’s man was an education to talk to.

Now you may think that this whole story is one of sheer luck and you never find nice cars ‘just lying around’. Well, I have to admit that I'd be surprised to hear about any more Porsches being abandoned but the Council’s man said, “you wouldn’t believe what I get to tow away!”

Apparently, there are hundreds of reasons for cars being abandoned. Bizarre ones like the owner is in prison, or done a runner from debts, or in the case of the South Coast many people come to the UK to visit on their yachts. The Council’s man had recently towed away a really nice BMW that morning.

A wealthy Italian couple had visited England for several months, bought a nice car to tour and when the time came to sail off couldn’t be bothered with the hassle of selling it, so abandoned it!

Apparently, there are lots of opportunities to pick up abandoned cars, if only you’re on the look out for them.

I have spotted several since but nothing to compare with the Porsche. But, there are millions of cars out there and I can GUARANTEE that a significant percentage get abandoned each year.

My theory as to why the Porsche was abandoned was that the engine was probably blown and the owner could no longer afford the bills, rather like the boats. One person’s misfortune is another man’s gain and all that! But that didn’t bother me as the car owed me precisely nothing, zip, nada, didly squat!

I got it home and got a key cut.

To my astonishment the engine roared into life at the first turn. I wrote to DVLA for the document which arrived four weeks later and now this magnificent lady can be seen regularly on the South Coast and at motoring events.

Now just in case you’re thinking “this would never happen to me!”

As I drove the Porsche out of the yard everyone stared in disbelief. “Lucky bleeder….!”

Now over 100 people worked in that yard, most had passed it every day for a year, not one had the foresight to procure it.

These opportunities ARE OUT THERE. Just be on your toes.

The car had suffered some rust issues being left next to the ocean so after a few years of ownership I decided to restore it.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE RESTORATION