On April 5th, Professor Ferdinand Alexander Porsche passed away at the age of 76. Grandson of company founder Ferdinand Porsche, he was best known as the designer of some of the company's most iconic models like the 911 road car and the 904 sports racer, which was his personal favourite. To pay our respects to 'Butzi' Porsche, we have today taken a closer look at the machine that combined the six cylinder of the 911 with the shape of the 904. Dubbed the 904/6, it was the ultimate development of the 904 racer and was campaigned by the works team in the 1965 with considerable success. Among the highlights of the rare racer's career was a class win and fourth overall at Le Mans against opposition with engines often twice or three times larger. For the 1966 season, the 'hybrids' were replaced by the purpose-built 906. By that time just over a dozen of these experimental machines had been produced. Of these, just six sported the original 904 design for long distance events, while most of the others featured spider bodies for hill-climbs and were nicknamed 'Kangaroo'. Over the years, we have seen no fewer than four of the six cars originally produced, which, we understand, are all of the survivors. Among them is the very first car, which is the actual Le Mans class winner, pictured in action back at the French track during the 2004 and 2006 Le Mans Classics. These pictures are part of a spectacular 30-shot gallery that serves to illustrate a detailed article with individual histories of all four cars.

Enjoy the links:

1964 Porsche 904/6 - Images, Specifications and Information