The Koenig C62 is the sort of road-legal race automobile that would solely have been conceived by somebody with the creativeness, engineering potential, and inherent insanity of Germany’s Willy Koenig.
Simply three C62s had been ever made, every began out as a Porsche 962 Group C Le Mans race automobile chassis, which then had a customized composite Kevlar physique added, and a highly-tuned Porsche 930 turbo engine fitted that produces 550+ bhp.
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Quick Information – The Mighty Koenig C62
- The Koenig C62 is among the extra excessive creations from the thoughts of Willy Koenig, the founding father of Koenig Specials GmbH – an organization that grew to become well-known for constructing a few of the wildest modified supercars on this planet within the Nineteen Eighties and Nineties.
- Willy Koenig began out within the printing enterprise, he grew to become rich and spent a few of his cash on his true ardour – racing. He grew to become the German Hillclimb Champion in 1962 driving a Ferrari 250 GT SWB.
- Within the Seventies Willy Koenig began modifying high-end vehicles within the Seventies, by the Nineteen Eighties his firm was some of the well-known, and most outlandish, on this planet.
- The Koenig C62 has a Porsche 962 chassis, a 550 bhp Porsche 930 engine, and a brand new composite Kevlar physique that was designed particularly to make sure that the automobile could possibly be highway registered and used on common public streets – in contrast to the Porsche 962 on which it’s based mostly.
Willy Koenig + Koenig Specials GmbH
Willy Koenig made his fortune within the printing business, however his true ardour was racing and high-end sports activities vehicles.
Though it seems loads just like the Porsche 962 the Koenig C62 shares no widespread panels with it, it has a brand new Kevlar composite physique that barely elevated the peak of the headlights and fenders to permit the automobile to be legally highway registered.
In 1961 Willy purchased an open-wheeled Method Junior Cooper from the Method 1 driver Wolfgang von Journeys, and a 12 months later in 1962 he gained the Deutsche Bergmeisterschaft (German Hillclimbing Championship) driving a Ferrari 250 GT SWB.
This victory would get him invited to go to Ferrari in Maranello the place he met Enzo Ferrari, and a particular occasion was held in his honor.
The cordiality of this relationship wouldn’t final nonetheless, and inside 20 years Ferrari can be threatening Koenig with lawsuits, and demanding that any Ferrari he had modified had all of its unique Ferrari badging eliminated – because it might now not be thought-about a real Ferrari.
There are lots of vehicles you may level to as the height of Koenig Specials GmbH achievements, the highly-modified 850 bhp Ferrari F50, the 1,000 bhp twin-turbo Ferrari Testarossa, or maybe the automobile proven right here – the Koenig C62.
The Koenig C62 – Specs
Simply three examples of the Koenig C62 had been ever made. The automobile is intently based mostly on the Porsche 962, a Le Mans-style sports activities racing automobile that was by no means meant to be used on public roads.
Above Video: That is racing driver Billy Johnson at there wheel of a Koenig C62 at Buttonwillow Raceway Park. You should definitely flip your sound on.
The group at Koenig Specials had ample expertise engaged on the Porsche 911, however the Porsche 962 was a completely new beast. They purchased improved 962 chassis from an organization known as Thompson, that specialised in constructing safer, extra inflexible chassis for racing groups.
Koenig C62 Specs
Although the C62 seems exceedingly much like the 962 the vehicles really share no physique panels in any respect, a completely new composite Kevlar physique was designed that elevated the peak of each the fenders and headlights in an effort to meet German necessities for highway authorized vehicles.
The engine is a twin-turbocharged Porsche 930 3.4 liter flat-six with a collection of modifications bringing energy as much as 550 hp and 553 lb ft of torque on the rear wheels by way of a 5-speed guide gearbox. The suspension was modified for avenue use, the unique arrange was stiff for racing use, so Koenig added barely softer springs and shock absorbers.
Authentic Porsche 962 brakes had been used nonetheless they had been fitted with extra street-focussed brake pads, each for usability and authorized causes.
The inside of the Koenig C62 makes little or no try and be comfy, uncovered composite panels are seen and there’s no carpet, local weather management, stereo, or cruise management – it was designed to be as near a avenue authorized Porsche 962 race automobile as was practicably doable.
Only a few allowances for consolation had been made when growing the Koenig C62, it was meant to be as near a highway authorized Porsche 962 as doable.
Koenig Specials had initially deliberate to construct 30 examples of the C62, nonetheless simply three had been in the end made – probably due to the $1,030,000 USD price ticket (in 1991 {dollars}).
The Koenig C62 Proven Right here
The automobile you see right here is the second of the three vehicles made, it was constructed between 1990 and 1991, then delivered to its first proprietor in Japan.
It could stay in Japan for many of its life, passing by a small variety of unique non-public collections earlier than being imported into the USA in 2019.
Within the three years that the automobile has been with its present proprietor it’s been used sparingly, it has simply 2,502 kilometers on the odometer from new.
It’s been fitted with new tires, GPS sender for the speedometer was put in, an inoperative gas gauge was repaired, and it had a servicing by the technicians at R3 Motorsports in Van Nuys, California.
The automobile is now being auctioned dwell on-line by Gathering Vehicles, on the time of writing there are nonetheless a number of days left to bid and you’ll click on right here in case you’d like to go to the itemizing.
Photos courtesy of Gathering Vehicles
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