The Porsche 904 Carrera GTS occupied a precise moment in Stuttgart's competition history: a dual-purpose road and racing GT homologated in early 1964, built in the minimum run required for GT-class eligibility. Its mid-mounted flat-four Fuhrmann four-cam engine was packaged in a fibreglass body on a steel-tube ladder frame that kept the 904 competitive against prototype machinery considerably larger in displacement. This particular example was among the earliest production cars prepared for factory-supported competition.
A Mid-Engine GT Ahead of Its Class
Porsche designed the 904 GTS as a clean-sheet platform, mounting its engine ahead of the rear axle in a mid-engine configuration. The fibreglass body was bonded directly to the steel-tube frame, reducing weight and improving structural rigidity. The 904 sat low and compact, with aerodynamic lines that required no revision between its 1964 introduction and final 1965 race season appearances. The Fuhrmann four-cam engine — a direct descendant of the Carrera RS engine lineage — gave the car a character distinctly different from the pushrod units used by most GT rivals of the period.
Madonie, 26 April 1964: The Race That Defined a Chassis
The 48th Targa Florio ran over ten laps of the Piccolo Madonie circuit in Sicily, with Davis and Pucci driving car number 86. Sicilian driver Antonio Pucci, a Porsche works driver, brought intimate knowledge of the Madonie roads; British professional Colin Davis provided the technical precision. Together they beat Ferrari and multiple other Porsche entries to take the outright win — not a class result, but a general classification victory that placed the 904 above purpose-built prototypes on one of motorsport's most demanding road circuits. For Porsche, it was among the most significant GT wins of the decade.
CMC's 1:18 Die-Cast: German Precision at Scale
CMC — Classic Model Cars — is a German manufacturer whose 1:18 die-cast models are distinguished by high metal content and fidelity to the original subject's surface detail. This model represents the car as raced at the 1964 Targa Florio: silver body, red competition number roundels, race number 86, and Porsche script, exactly as documented on the day. The die-cast metal construction gives the model a solidity consistent with CMC's catalogue approach to historic racing subjects.
In the Display Cabinet
The 904 GTS in 1:18 is a compact model relative to longer sports cars of its era, making it a model that stands out on the shelf even in a modestly sized cabinet. It pairs naturally with other mid-1960s Porsche competition subjects — the 906 Carrera 6, the 550 Spyder — or alongside period Ferrari GT and prototype entries from the same Targa Florio field. For a collector building around Porsche's transition from the 356 era to the mid-engine racing generation, this car represents a cornerstone piece: an outright race winner, an identifiable livery documented in period photography.
