Porsche has restored the first ever Porsche 917 to its original condition, this is the first 917 that Porsche built, the car is number 917-001, it has never been raced instead it was used as a test vehicle by the sports car maker.
The company has now fully restored the car which will be 50 years old this year, the company started the restoration back in 2017.
As far as possible, original materials and parts must be preserved when restoring the 917-001 to its original condition as in March 1969. That’s why the car’s assembled body frame is scanned using 3D technology. New CAD data is calculated by reverse engineering this scanned data (surface reconstruction), which is created from the original drawings, and eventually helps cut the negative moulds to construct the new body parts with absolute precision. Because only a single piece of any body part is required at a time, the negative moulds are machined directly out of the material Ureol, saving valuable time and money. The new body parts are ultimately created from a similar polyester laminate to ensure that they are as authentic as possible.
The project makes major advances in September 2018. The reconstructed front section of the 1969 version turns out to be a precise fit, and can be attached to the frame and the remaining centre section of the body. The rear frame is adjusted while both fuel tanks are adapted to fit the inner mechanics.
You can find out more details about the original Porsche 917 over at Porsche at the link below.
Source Porsche