Yes, it’s true that today marks the 50th anniversary of the first street-legal Porsche 917, a legendary race car that made history by hitting public roads in 1975. The Porsche 917, specifically chassis 030, became the first street-legal 917 when it embarked on a bold journey from Porsche’s Weissach development center in Stuttgart to Paris.
The Porsche 917, debuted in 1969, was engineered by Hans Mezger to dominate endurance racing, particularly the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which it did with overall victories in 1970 and 1971. Built to exploit a rule change requiring 25 units for homologation, the 917 was a pure race car with a lightweight space frame, cutting-edge aerodynamics, and a mid-mounted flat-12 engine. Its success cemented Porsche’s motorsport legacy, but it was never intended for street use—until an audacious Italian aristocrat, Count Teofilo Guiscardo Rossi di Montelera, made it happen.
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Chassis 030, originally built for the 1971 racing season, competed only once at the Zeltweg 1000 Kilometers, qualifying third but retiring due to suspension issues. After serving as a test mule for Porsche’s early ABS system, it was mothballed until 1974, when Count Rossi, heir to the Martini & Rossi fortune and a Porsche enthusiast, acquired it. Determined to drive it on public roads, Rossi commissioned Porsche to make it street-legal, a daunting task given the car’s racing pedigree.
To comply with road regulations, Porsche added: mufflers to tame the exhaust note, additional mirrors and turn signals, a horn, a spare tire (a BF Goodrich space-saver, ratchet-strapped into the frame, a quirky nod to Le Mans rules), Hermes leather upholstery and suede interior inserts at Rossi’s request, along with a wood shift knob as well as a drilled lightweight key.
Despite these modifications, the car retained its racing essence. European authorities in Germany, France, and Italy refused registration, but Rossi secured an Alabama license plate—curiously, without the car ever visiting the U.S.—allowing legal use in Europe. On April 28, 1975, the 917 drove 400 miles from Stuttgart to Paris, a spectacle that stunned onlookers
Porsche seems to have hinted at a possible street-legal version of the 963 LMDh race car at the end of today’s promo video. It wraps up with a dark outline of a car that looks a lot like the side of the Porsche 963, paired with the intriguing question “What if?” This wording reminds us of Count Rossi’s daring dream to make the 917 road-legal back in 1975.
It was an audacious adventure driven by the passion of a private owner and the commitment of a small team within Porsche to fulfill the wishes of customers, no matter how outlandish the request. Fittingly, that first exploratory drive did not end after a prudent cruise around local roads, but when the car reached Paris – several hundred miles later. It was a feat that would go on to inspire many more adventures in the decades that would follow,” said the company.
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