Porsche Spent A Year And A Half Restoring This Championship-Winning 962C Back To Original Condition

Few cars in endurance racing were as special or dominant as the Porsche 956/962, so it should come as no surprise that the automaker values the historical model quite highly. A 962C that they had lying around has now been restored back to its original condition.

The project was led by Armin Berger and Traugott Brecht from Porsche’s Historic Motorsport department. The pair said they had long hoped to restore the car which had been painted white and used as an aerodynamic test car.

“We kept passing this car in the warehouse. Then, about a year and a half ago, we decided to get it out of there, transfer it to Weissach and start working on it,” said Burger.

In Weissach, where the car was originally built, the team of restorers worked hard to completely rebuild the underbody, return the radiators to their original position, and make a number of other body adjustments in order to get it back to the specifications in which it won in the ADAC Würth Supercup in 1987 with Hans-Joachim Stuck at the wheel.

“The cooperation with the other departments from Porsche was great,” said Burger. “We found almost everything we needed within a radius of just 30 meters.”

Indeed, even Rob Powell, the man who designed the car’s Shell livery, came back to the factory with his original design sketches from 35 years ago.

“Stucki [Hans-Joachim Stuck] immediately liked the design of my first sketch,” said Powell. “This is very important, for example, so that the painters can plan the cut-out correctly. By the way, I still think the color combination of yellow and red looks modern.”

When the restoration was complete, Porsche invited Stuck to the factory to show him the car they had rebuilt.

“If I put up my sleeve, you see the goose pimples,” he said upon seeing the car again for the first time in 35 years. “This car, of course, means a lot to me because this was sort of my car, you know, because I was the only driver of this car.”

And not only was Stuck allowed to see the 962 again, he also gott to drive it one more time.

“A day like this will certainly never be forgotten,” said Stuck after his drive. “To have had the chance to race this car, then to come back here after 35 years to be able to test drive it and get the experience, simply brilliant.”