Fifteen hundred eighty coupes. Ducktail. Pure.
What the 1973 RS was
The 911 Carrera RS 2.7 was built in 1972 and 1973 to homologate the long-hood 911 for the FIA Group 4 GT racing category. The homologation rules required Porsche to build at least 500 production cars sharing the racing variant's specification. Demand was greater than expected. By the end of the production run, 1,580 cars had been built.
The RS used a 2.7-liter version of the air-cooled flat-six, with Bosch mechanical fuel injection. Output: 210 horsepower DIN. The engine was a development of the 911S 2.4 but with a longer stroke and revised cylinder heads. Compression ratio: 8.5:1.
What "lightweight" meant
The Carrera RS came in three trim levels: Touring, Sport, and the racing-only RSR.
The Touring was the comfortable version — full carpeting, sound deadening, standard 911 interior. About 1,308 were built. The Touring weighed approximately 1,075 kilograms.
The Sport was the lightweight. The Sport variant deleted the rear seats, used thinner-gauge steel for body panels, eliminated the undercoating, and used fixed plexiglass for the rear quarter windows. Approximately 200 Sports were built. Weight: approximately 960 kilograms — meaningfully lighter than the Touring.
The RSR was the full racing version — approximately 49 built, fully race-prepared from the factory. Most were sold to private teams. The RSR went on to win at Daytona, Targa Florio, and other major events in 1973 and 1974.
The ducktail
The Carrera RS introduced the ducktail rear spoiler — a fiberglass piece that sat on top of the engine deck, raising the rear of the car by about 50 millimeters. It was the first time Porsche had used aerodynamic appendages on a road car.
The ducktail had two functions. It reduced rear-axle lift at high speed by about 70 percent — meaningful for a rear-engine car prone to lifting its rear at speed. It also fed air to the engine bay for cooling. At the time it was controversial because it was visually unlike anything Porsche had built before. Today the ducktail is considered one of the most iconic shapes in air-cooled history.
What the colors meant
The 1973 RS was offered in white as the standard color, with optional accent colors on the bumper, the rocker panel, and the wheels. The most common combinations were white with red lettering, white with blue lettering, and white with green lettering. The lettering itself spelled "Carrera" along the rocker panel — the first 911 to wear that name on its body.
Period-correct RS examples retain this color combination religiously. Restorations that change the color scheme are seen as compromised — the white-with-color combination is part of the car's identity.
Values today
The Carrera RS 2.7 sits at the top of the air-cooled 911 collector market alongside the 911R and the early Speedster. Clean Touring examples sell for $1.0 to $1.4 million. Documented Sport variants — fewer than 200 built — bring $1.5 to $2.5 million. Race history adds dramatically; a documented RSR can exceed $5 million.
Most 1973 RS examples that come to market today are heavily provenanced — restored or maintained by recognized Porsche specialists, with full paperwork, often with the original factory build sheets. Cars without that paperwork sell at significant discounts because the model has been counterfeited.
Why it matters
The 1973 RS is the lightweight reference every later air-cooled 911 answers to. The 964 RS, the 993 RS, the 911 R of 2016, the modern 911 GT3 — all trace their lineage to this car. Two hundred and ten horsepower, ten hundred kilograms, ducktail, mechanical injection. The formula has not been improved on.