911 HLS: has anyone heard of such a Porsche?

Although the history of the Porsche brand is undoubtedly one of the most glorious in the automotive world, mainly thanks to its legendary model, the 911, there are still certain aspects that remain unknown, even to connoisseurs. A typical example of this is the story of a forgotten Porsche from 1966, when the Department of Automotive Design at Aachen University decided to create a sports coupe with a forward-opening roof instead of doors. For this purpose, a production Porsche 911 904 from 1964 was used, and the exterior design was inspired by the Porsche 904 track car and its characteristic tailgate piese auto online.

911 HLS: has anyone heard of such a Porsche?

The unique car, created in Aachen nearly 60 years ago, is called the 911 HLS Klappdach (folding roof) Rennsport Coupe and has practically nothing in common with the Porsche 911 in appearance. In order to keep the weight low, a significant number of body components, including the tailgate and the roll bar, are made of aluminum. The access system to the body, which is unique in the history of the brand, includes a large dome fixed at the front, with a sufficiently large opening angle to allow effortless entry and exit. For reasons of strength and stability, the side elements are reinforced and the door sills are higher than on other cars (similar to the BMW Z1).

The engine, located near the rear axle, is a 2-liter, 6-cylinder “boxer” with a power of 130 hp. The frankly sporty ambitions of the project are visibly expressed, and in the interior layout and the rather unusual dashboard: on the driver’s side there is only the steering wheel with a few buttons on both sides of it, and on the passenger side there is a set of five dials oriented towards the driver, which take up quite a lot of space. The rear-view mirror resembles that of the 904. The car is a four-seater, with the rear seats having folding backrests, and the front ones are quite simple and not sporty at all, but they are upholstered in leather, the central section of which has a black and white checkerboard motif.

Once the prototype was completed, it was sent to a garage in Würselen (a small town near Aachen), where the body was painted green and the black letters HLS were added to the side. However, this rather eccentric design did not please Porsche management and the project was discontinued, and for the next 40 years the unique car from Aachen was left to its fate in the garage yard where it had been sent for painting. It only came to life again after it came into the eyes of expert Manfred Herring. “I was asked if I could restore this Porsche with a budget of 30,000 euros,” he says. “I initially turned down the offer, but then I changed my mind and decided to buy it, but I only managed to get my hands on it after three years of negotiations. The original engine was in pieces, but it was included in the price.”

In April 2015, Herring presented the still unrestored car for the first time at the annual Techno Classica vintage show in Essen, after which its phased restoration began.

Car parts AutoPower
Car parts AutoPower

The unique car, created in Aachen nearly 60 years ago, is called the 911 HLS Klappdach (folding roof) Rennsport Coupe and has practically nothing in common with the Porsche 911 in appearance

The engine, located near the rear axle, is a 2-liter, 6-cylinder “boxer” with a power of 130 hp