Isn’t it an amusing, but very human trait, to name inanimate things?
Some are nifty, but I’m noticing an upwards trend of attaching names, with the thinly veiled hope of giving them some “investment-grade” credibility. Happy to be corrected, but it seems like the Rolex market currently leads the charge on this peculiarity; My poor old Datejust gets put to the back of the shelf, every time I accidently go down a cringe-fest Rolex naming rabbit hole (“Newman” Daytona and “Mil-Sub” Submariner stand tall and get a solid pass IMHO.).
I do understand the reasoning; some assets, need a little marketing “bump”, to get them relevance, or at the very least “make them make sense” on an expensive purchase, that might not necessarily make that much sense.
Watches might be the perfect example, for something that really needs a bit extra in the marketing department, as a car purchase might always distil down to pure transport, but HOW you get transported (In luxury? Safety? Quickly?) is a relevant and salient point.
How you tell the time… That’s a tricky one for anyone to justify; Might as well do it with a nice instrument!
I would love to say that Porsche stands above the cringey side of this idiosyncrasy, and it mostly does, courtesy of a glorious history of Homologation specials and quirky factory nomenclature that we can all geek out at. The 997.1 GT3RS in orange gets called a “Pumpkin” (It’s orange and black, get it? Like a pumpkin!) and that’s about the only one that jumps to mind easily. That is likely due to having one in the fleet and I’m pretty sure we all call it the “Orange RS”, or the “Orange one”.
Anyhoo, this all started with me describing to my kids, that this stunning 1971 911 is a “Steve McQueen” model, (despite it not being an S, kids aren’t too fussed.). If the Rolex Marketeers were the bosses of naming everything cool, you know the 71 911, with that super sweet 2.2, would be the “Steve McQueen” hands down and on that point, I agree.
Such a freaking cool car, from a cool era. Especially when said 911 is paired with a darker colour and the stainless trim about the wheel wells. When you see those stunning gold badges, some proper Fuchs and hey presto: you are instantly transported back to Le Mans 1971; you’re looking ridiculously cool, observing where you wrote off your 917K and about to burn through town, ready to do it again. Cool AF. Steve McQueen cool.
This particular 1971 911E, chassis #9111200138 was delivered new to San Francisco, in what I hope you agree, is a stunning spec’ of #2424 Burgundy Red (Burgundrot) over #21 Tan leatherette trim.
Further factory options were as follows;
#400 “911S” 15 x 6” Fuchs wheels.
#404 “911S” Sway bars front and rear.
#550 Airconditioning.
#568 Tinted glass.
Chassis #9111200138 lived it’s life in sunny California, with its final USA registration slip from 2008, showing Oakley, California (Greater San Francisco) as its home. Perhaps it was San Fran its whole life? We aren’t sure, but the California Blue Plates that come with the car and the general condition of the chassis, prior to her restoration, says “yes”.
Speaking of restorations, my goodness, has this car had the full serve. It is FREAKING STUNNING. I really hope the pics do her justice. The attention to detail is a bit mind boggling; the owner wanted her to look and feel factory, like a matching numbers 911 should, but every part, panel, trim and detail has been ever so slightly optimised. He has spent years restoring #9111200138 to what is near perfection and received some significant trophies, like winner of the Porsche Club of QLD concours and was a star of the inaugural Noosa Concours D’elegance, which is a rather elite club of only 50.
The owner has subsequently enjoyed a few tours in #9111200138, all without getting a stone-chip and has decided to sell her, while she is still “perfect”. The next job on the list, was installing her correct MFI system (Comes complete, with the car, along with other original parts.) but that would entail more drives and a cut-off line was drawn. A wise move, from a seasoned car collector.
I would MFI it and drive the wheels off her, but I am not that wise… Perhaps some pre-first-stone-chip PPF could redeem me?
You could not buy a matching numbers 1971 911E and restore it to this high standard, for the asking price. If you need to unleash your inner Steve McQueen, please contact Ecurie Bowden and find out more about this stunning 71E, so you can get your 2026 started, in a seriously cool fashion.
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