The Porsche 917 in Scale: Le Mans, Gulf, and the Most Collectible Endurance Car Ever Built

Few competition cars carry the collector weight of the Porsche 917. It won the 24 Heures du Mans outright in 1970 and 1971, ended Ferrari's decade-long dominance of endurance racing, and produced three liveries — the Salzburg red and white, the Gulf blue and orange, and the 917/20 Pink Pig — that remain among the most reproduced in the entire scale model catalogue. The 917 also carries a cinematic dimension that almost no other racing car possesses: Steve McQueen's 1971 film Le Mans was built around the 917, which introduced the car to an audience far beyond motorsport and cemented its status as a cultural object as much as a competition machine. For the endurance collector, the Porsche 917 is not optional. It is the reference point against which every other Le Mans replica is measured.

The Real Car: Technical Profile and Le Mans Record

The Porsche 917 was developed in response to revised FIA Group 5 regulations introduced for 1968, which permitted prototype cars up to five litres of engine displacement. Porsche engineered the 917 around a spaceframe chassis constructed from welded aluminium tubes, with a flat-twelve engine positioned behind the driver in mid-rear configuration. The original 4.5-litre flat-twelve produced approximately 520 bhp in 1969 specification; by 1971, the long-tail variants were running 4.9-litre engines producing in excess of 600 bhp. The 917K — K for Kurzheck, short tail — was the primary Le Mans weapon from 1970 onwards. Its predecessor, the 917L (Langheck, long tail), was faster on the Mulsanne Straight but aerodynamically unstable at speed; the 917K's revised rear bodywork resolved the stability issues and produced the car that won Le Mans. The 917 competed at Le Mans from 1969 to 1971. In 1970, the 917K No. 23 of the Porsche Salzburg team, driven by Hans Herrmann and Richard Attwood, took the outright victory — Porsche's first Le Mans win. In 1971, the Martini Racing 917K No. 22 of Helmut Marko and Gijs van Lennep won again, setting a distance record that stood until 2010.

Which Liveries Define the 917 in Scale?

The Porsche 917 was raced in more livery variants than almost any other Le Mans car of its era, but three define the car's collector identity.

The Salzburg Red and White is the championship livery: No. 23, Hans Herrmann and Richard Attwood, winner of the 24 Heures du Mans 1970. The Porsche Salzburg team operated as the official Porsche works entry under an Austrian importer's banner, and the red and white livery — carrying the Salzburg team's colours — is the most historically significant of the three. It is the first Porsche Le Mans win, documented in the most collected 917 release in the current Vroomi catalogue.

The Gulf Blue and Orange is the most visually iconic. The John Wyer Automotive Engineering team ran 917Ks in the Gulf Oil livery from 1970 to 1971, producing the colour combination that became synonymous with the 917 and with endurance racing in its entirety. Jo Siffert and Brian Redman drove the Gulf 917K to second place at the 24h Daytona 1970, one of the key results that established the Gulf programme's competitive credibility before Le Mans.

The Pink Pig — the 917/20 No. 23 of the 24 Heures du Mans 1971, driven by Reinhold Joest and Willi Kauhsen — is the most singular car in the 917 programme. The 917/20 was a one-off aerodynamic research car with a wider, rounder body shape developed by the SERA agency. Its bodywork sections were labelled with cuts of pork — snout, shoulder, loin, rump — as an internal joke that became one of the most famous liveries in motorsport history. The car qualified 16th and retired at Le Mans 1971 but its visual identity is so powerful that it consistently generates the strongest collector demand of any 917 variant.

The Porsche 917 in Scale: Key Releases at Vroomi

The current Vroomi catalogue covers the Porsche 917 across multiple manufacturers, scales, and livery variants — all verified in stock at time of publication.

The Porsche 917K 4.9L Team Salzburg No. 23 — Winner 24h Le Mans 1970, Hans Herrmann and Richard Attwood is produced by WERK83 at 1/18 in die-cast. It documents the race-winning car in its exact Le Mans 1970 specification — the most historically significant single result in the 917's competition record. WERK83 is a German manufacturer specialising in endurance and historic racing replicas with a focus on livery accuracy and period-correct detail at accessible price points.

The Porsche 917K 4.5L Gulf Team John Wyer Automotive Engineering No. 1 — 2nd 24h Daytona 1970, Jo Siffert and Brian Redman is available at 1/18, documenting the Gulf programme's Daytona result in the 4.5-litre early specification with the iconic blue and orange livery in period-correct placement.

The Porsche 917 Long Tail Hippie Practice Version No. 3 — 24h Le Mans 1970, Gérard Larrousse and Willi Kauhsen is available at 1/18 — a particularly notable release because the Long Tail practice livery variants are among the most visually distinctive 917 configurations and among the least replicated. The Hippie livery car is a collector subject in its own right, separate from the race-day Salzburg or Gulf editions.

At 1/43, Brumm covers the 917K in the Le Mans 1971 specification — the Porsche 917 K No. 57 of D. Martin and C. Pillon — providing an entry point for the 1/43 collector building an endurance grid without the investment required for 1/18 die-cast releases.

What Makes the Porsche 917 the Most Collectible Endurance Car in Scale?

Three factors place the 917 above every other endurance car in collector demand. First, the combination of Le Mans victories and Gulf livery visibility: the Gulf 917K is the single most recognisable endurance racing car in popular culture, and its blue and orange livery reproduces with exceptional impact at both 1/43 and 1/18. Second, livery diversity: no other car in endurance history produced three visually distinct liveries — Salzburg, Gulf, Pink Pig — each with its own competition history and collector narrative. A 917-focused collection can be built around livery variation alone, without duplication of result or context. Third, the Steve McQueen dimension: the 1971 film Le Mans introduced the 917 to generations of collectors who came to the car through cinema rather than motorsport, creating a collector demand base that extends beyond the endurance specialist into the broader automotive culture market.

Explore the full Porsche 917 range and the complete endurance catalogue at Vroomi's Historic Endurance collection. Add to Your Grid.