1970 Porsche 911S Monte Carlo Rallye Prototype

Some incredible cars have passed through the hands of Nord Sterners over the years. Here is the story of one of them, a 1970 911S.  Well, not just any 911S but 1 of 3 prototypes built for the 1970 Monte Carlo Rally. While officially a 911S, it featured the lightweight body of the racing 911ST from 1971 and 1972. This was also the first use of the 915 gearbox that entered production for 1972 with variants continuing all the way through 1986. Factory documents refer to the car as a 1970 Porsche 911S Monte Carlo Prototype. The car also featured a rather unusual 2.3 liter engine.

Many of you who have been around for awhile will remember seeing this car at many events but may but may not have known just how special a car it is. This car led much of the 1970 Monte Carlo Rally and finished 2^nd when the team decided to split the tire choice and the #6 car of Bjorn Waldegaard got the better tire for conditions and won the rally.  Our car, #2, finished second.

You can get an idea of what the rally was like in this 45 second video here: https://youtu.be/kynQ4GVMv8k.

The connection to Nord Stern begins around 1974 when Gunther Werner-Lange imported the car. Gunther, a Northwest Airlines pilot, had a connection with Manfred Freisinger at Porsche and had brought some “old race cars”, including an Abarth Carrera and this car, to Minnesota.  Below is a photo from a Nord Stern business meeting likely in 1974, at President Dave Morse’s house in Bloomington. Gunther on the left and Dave Morse on the right. Years later Dave Morris owned a 936 which is now back in the Porsche Museum Collection.

Two-time Nord Stern President Hank Godfredson bought the car and the car began a very active life doing Nord Stern events.  While Hank was aware of the car’s history, he bought the car to enjoy it. It was a fixture at many Nord Stern and other PCA events in the 80’s as seen here at the Afton Concour in 1982.

Here Phyllis Godfredson navigates the autocross course at Raceway Park in Shakopee. I believe this was at a ladies-only school called “Quick Chicks.”

Nord Sterner Peter Kitchak knew how special this car was and purchased it from Hank in 1990. The car was very well used and like so many early 911’s, a little rusty.  Peter did an amazing restoration and brought it back to its 1970 Monte Carlo glory. I it remains in his collection to this day.

How special is this car? Special enough to have a place on the lawn at the Pebble Beach Concours in 2013 where it took 2^nd in its class. It likely would have taken 1^st if not for a modern spare tire. The wheel was period correct but tire was not, which speaks to the level of competition at Pebble.

You may remember it when it was shown at the All Porsche Show in Roseville.

Thanks to Peter Kitchak for his very helpful input for this post. Be sure to check out the Kitchak Collection here: It features 7 decades of Porsche supercars.

UPDATE:

I heard from 1976 Nord Stern President Larry Skoglund that the photo above of the business meeting was at Charter Member Craig Alexander’s home. He commented that there was quite an assortment of cars there that days.  Craig at that time had a 550 Spyder shown below at an event called “The Spring Concour”. Larry was driving a 1957 Carrera GS Speedster (4-cam) which will be subject of a future post. In today’s market, these three cars are likely worth north of $10M! Craig built a new home a bit later and the car literally was featured inside the house for many years.