Porsche 911 Spyder

Porsche 911 Roadster by Bertone

Ordered by Porsche’s West Coast distributor, John von Neumann, who wanted a drop top 911 to offer his customers since Porsche had not been producing drop top cars in 14 months

A few days after the prototype 911 Targa had been unveiled, von Neumann headed to Italy where he commissioned a prototype 911 Roadster from Carrozzeria Bertone

Porsche reluctantly agreed to von Neumann’s request for a single bare chassis but expressed concern about the configuration; structural rigidity would inevitably be compromised and, from a design perspective, there was no acceptable position for a folded roof when lowered

Nevertheless, Porsche approved the release of a naked chassis but told von Neumann they would have the final say on a production variant getting the go-ahead

Von Neumann visited Bertone immediately after the Frankfurt Motor Show in September 1965 and ordered a prototype 911 Roadster with a view to a potential production run of 100 cars. The plan was his 911 Roadster would retail for around $7000 compared to $6400 for the regular 911 Coupe and $6150 for the forthcoming Targa

Each chassis would be delivered to Bertone for a body to be fitted, after which it would return to Porsche for installation of an engine

The production failed as Porsche didn't accept the car, also because there was no way it would be able to sell for less than $8000 since the naked 911 chassis alone was already roughly $20000

Fitted with a 160bhp 911S engine, which gave the car a 30 horsepower increase over its original form