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Porsche 917 was a car in the 1970 Hot Wheels series.

History on the Porsche 917[]

This is a model of the very first design of Porsche 917, produced in March, 1969, and raced through the 1969 season. The actual Porsche 917 was created with the goal of gaining an overall victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in mind. Design work started in July of 1968, planning to have the required 25 cars ready to be tested the following spring. The car had a 4.5 liter (274.6 cu. in) air cooled flat-12 engine, with dual overhead cams and twin spark plugs. It was initially rated at 620 hp.

Unfortunately the car had a maximum speed of around 240 mph. Little was understood of race car aerodynamics when traveling at those speeds in 1969, and the design you see in the Hot Wheels model was actually producing lift at over 200 mph, causing the car to be extremely unstable. A British driver was killed in a privately owned 917 at Le Mans that year, when he lost control on the high speed Mulsanne Strait. The 917s were not competitive at Le Mans, and only won one race in that year's sports car series.

After the 1969 season, at a testing session in Austria, an engineer noticed that the car had gone though a cloud of gnats, with many of the insects striking the front of the car. But there was no sign of the bugs on the tail of the car, suggesting that the tail was in a partial vacuum. The engineer and some mechanics improvised a higher tail with sheet aluminum, and sent the car back out on the track. The test driver reported the car slightly slower in a straight line, but much faster and more stable in the corners, and the laps times were several seconds faster. The car was sent back to the Porsche factory, where a new high speed wind tunnel tested the differences between the original design (this Hot Wheels model) and the improvised tail. Over the next few months several changes in the aerodynamics were made.

As a result, the Porsche 917 dominated the World Sports Car Championship over the next two years, including back to back wins at Le Mans. When the 1972 regulations outlawed the big engines, Porsche added turbochargers to the flat-12 engine (now developing over 1,000 hp) and entered the North American Can-Am series. The 917 dominated that series before the 1973-74 oil crisis caused that series to collapse. To this day the 917 is still regarded as one of Porsche's greatest cars.

Description[]

Mattel modeled the car after the Porsche 917, it had an opening rear engine compartment, Capped redline wheels and a sticker sheet with the number "18" racing decal and rocker panel stripes with the word "Porsche". The Porsche 917 was introduced into the line-up in 1970. This Porsche 917 casting has seen plenty of action through out the years. It was reissued in the line-up in 1973 with the new child safe paints and was part of the Flying Colors years to be laid to rest in 1979. Mattel in the 2000's started bringing back many of the old castings by reproducing the casting, this casting was one of them (see below for the retooled version).

The Cars were packaged with a metal or plastic 'Collector's Button'

1973 issued cars are a stand alone year. Gone were the spectraflame paints. 1973 models were issued in only Enamel paints.

The P-917  released in 1974 under the name Porsche 917. But the name changed quickly. The P-917 was based on the first car that gave Porsche their first 24 Hours of Le Mans win.

USA Releases[]

The Porsche 917 has come out in the following 1/64 scale USA versions:

Identification notes for USA castings:

1. White interior

2. Matte black paint on taillight area

3. "Mattel Inc, USA" on base

Year Series Color Stickers Base Color / Type Window Color Interior Color Wheel Type Toy # Country Notes Photo
1970 Grand Prix Gray Enamel Number & racing Unpainted / Metal RL 6416 USA Porsche917
1970 Grand Prix Spectraflame Light Green Unpainted / Metal RL 6416 USA Porsche 917 Light Green
1970 Grand Prix Spectraflame Magenta Unpainted / Metal RL 6416 USA Image not available
1970 Grand Prix Spectraflame Lime Green Unpainted / Metal RL 6416 USA Porsche 917 1970 Lime
1970 Grand Prix Spectraflame Hot Pink Unpainted / Metal RL 6416 USA 1970-Porsche917-Pink
1970 Grand Prix Spectraflame Rose Unpainted / Metal RL 6416 USA Porche 917
1970 Grand Prix Spectraflame Yellow Unpainted / Metal RL 6416 USA Porsche917.yellow
1970 Grand Prix Spectraflame Salmon Unpainted / Metal RL 6416 USA 1970 Porsche 917 (Spectraflame Salmon?)
1970 Grand Prix Spectraflame Red Unpainted / Metal RL 6416 USA Porsche 917 1970 Red
1970 Grand Prix Spectraflame Green Unpainted / Metal RL 6416 USA Image not available
1970 Grand Prix Spectraflame Blue Unpainted / Metal RL 6416 USA Porsche 917 1970 Blue
1970 Grand Prix Spectraflame Aqua Unpainted / Metal RL 6416 USA Image not available
1970 Grand Prix Unpainted / Metal RL 6416 USA Image not available

Hong Kong Releases[]

The Porsche 917 has come out in the following 1/64 scale Hong Kong versions:


Identification notes for Hong Kong releases:

1. Black or brown interior,

2. Gloss black paint on taillight area,

3. "Hong Kong" on base

Year Series Color Stickers Base Color / Type Window Color Interior Color Wheel Type Toy # Country Notes Photo
1970 Grand Prix Spectraflame Blue Number & racing Unpainted / Metal RL 6416 Hong Kong Porsche917HKBlue
1970 Grand Prix Spectraflame Light Green Number & racing Unpainted / Metal RL 6416 Hong Kong Image not available
1970 Grand Prix Gray Enamel Number & racing Unpainted / Metal RL 6416 Hong Kong Image not available
1970 Grand Prix Spectraflame Lime Green Number & racing Unpainted / Metal RL 6416 Hong Kong Image not available
1970 Grand Prix Spectraflame Green Number & racing Unpainted / Metal RL 6416 Hong Kong Porsche-917
1970 Grand Prix Spectraflame Yellow Number & racing Unpainted / Metal RL 6416 Hong Kong Image not available
1970 Grand Prix Spectraflame Red Number & racing Unpainted / Metal RL 6416 Hong Kong 100 4211
1970 Grand Prix Spectraflame Hot Pink Number & racing Unpainted / Metal RL 6416 Hong Kong Image not available
1970 Grand Prix Spectraflame Aqua Number & racing Unpainted / Metal RL 6416 Hong Kong Image not available
1970 Grand Prix Spectraflame Purple Number & racing Unpainted / Metal RL 6416 Hong Kong 1970-Porsche917-Purple
1973 1973 Hot Wheels Enamel Dark Blue Unpainted / Metal RL 6972 Image Not Available
1973 1973 Hot Wheels Enamel Fluorescent Lime Green Unpainted / Metal RL 6972 Image Not Available
1973 1973 Hot Wheels Enamel Fluorescent Pink Unpainted / Metal RL 6972 Image Not Available
1973 1973 Hot Wheels Enamel Lemon Yellow Unpainted / Metal RL 6972 Image Not Available
1973 1973 Hot Wheels Enamel Light Blue Unpainted / Metal RL 6972 Image Not Available
1973 1973 Hot Wheels Enamel Red Unpainted / Metal RL 6972 1973 Porsche 917 Red
1974 Flying Colors Orange Magenta,Orange & Dull Yellow Striped on top "9" Metal Blue Tint Black RL2 6972 Hong Kong Named P-917Porsche tampo Porsche 917 OrgmetR
1974 Flying Colors Orange Magenta,Orange & Dull Yellow Striped on top "9" Metal Blue Tint Black RL2 6972 Hong Kong Named P-917Porsche tampo / open axle Image Not Available
1974 Flying Colors Red Magenta,Orange & Dull Yellow Striped on top "9" Metal Blue Tint Black RL2 6972 Hong Kong Named P-917Porsche  tampo/ Alt. Color P917FlyingcolorsRL
1975 Flying Colors Orange Magenta,Orange & Dull Yellow Striped on top "9" Black/Plastic Blue Tint Black RL2 6972 Hong Kong Named P-917Porsche tampo / P-917 base Porsche top 1975 with plastic base p-917 base
1975 Flying Colors Red Magenta,Orange & Dull Yellow Striped on top "9" Black/Plasticl Blue tint Black RL2 6972 Hong Kong Named P-917P-917 tampo/ Alt. Color Image Not Available
1975 Flying Colors Orange Magenta,Orange & Dull Yellow Striped on top "9" Black/Plastic Blue Tint Black RL2 6972 Hong Kong Named P-917 P-917 plastic Mag tampo RL 1976 or 77
1976 Super Chromes Chrome Magenta,Red & Orange Striped on top "9" Black/Plastic Blue Tint Black RL2 9204 Hong Kong Named P-917 100 3209
1977 Flying Colors Orange Magenta,Orange & Dull Yellow Striped on top "9" Black/Plastic Blue Tint Black BW 6972 Hong Kong Named P-917 P-917 BW1977
1977 Super Chromes Chrome Black/Plastic BW 9204 Hong Kong Named P-917 Image Not Available
1978 Speedway Specials Orange Magenta,Orange & Dull Yellow Striped on top "9" Black/Plastic Blue Tint Black BW 6972 Hong Kong Named P-917 P-917 BW1977

Re-Cast Versions[]

In 2011 the Porsche 917 was retooled for these 1/64 scale versions:

Year Series Color Tampo Base Color / Type Window Color Interior Color Wheel Type Toy # Country Notes Photo
2011 The Hot Ones Metallic Red Red PORSCHE over black stripes on top sides. Yellow #9 on front end w/ stripes Unpainted
/
Metal
Blue tint Grey BW W1561 Thailand Base code(s): D36 2011TheHotOnes-Porsche917
2011 The Hot Ones Metallic Red Red PORSCHE over black stripes on top sides. Yellow #9 on front end w/ stripes Unpainted
/
Metal
Blue Tint Grey RLBW W1561 Thailand Chase
Base Code(s):
2011-HO Porsche 917 Chase ooref-1z
2012 The Hot Ones Yellow Black/Red racing stripes "Porsche" "7" Unpainted
/
Metal
Yellow tint Grey Red HO W3801 Thailand Base code(s): E01 2012-THO-Porsche917-Yellow

Gallery[]

Gallery[]



See Also[]

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