Porsche 962 - Road Versions

Road Versions

Towards the end of the car's competition life, a number of privateer teams and tuners began converting 962s for road use. The concept was that the 962, which had performed so well on the track, would be ideally suited as a supercar for the road. An almost standard car was registered (BB-PW 962) and briefly driven on the road for a German magazine, although the original headlight height and underbody configuration rendered the car illegal under German regulations.

The first company outside Porsche to modify a 962 into a road car was Koenig, a German tuner who had previously raced 962s. Known as the C62, the car was completed in 1991 and featured entirely new bodywork in order to better adapt to German regulations. The engine was expanded to 3.4L and saw the addition of a newer Motronic system. It is unknown how many were built by Koenig.

German tuner DP Motorsports completed a road conversion in 1992, with a total of three cars, known as DP62, built upon existing 962 racing chassis. Modifications included moving the headlights higher to meet German legal requirements, plus the addition of a 3.3 L twin-turbo Flat-6.

In 1991 Vern Schuppan created his Schuppan 962CR for Japanese customers, with a list price of 195 million Yen, or UK£830,000. The bodywork and chassis were completely new and unique, designed by Mike Simcoe of GM Holden in Australia, but the engine was taken directly from 962s, although it was also expanded to 3.3 litres. An unknown number were built before funding failed to materialize. Before the run of CRs, however, at least two 962R (or LM) cars were built. The first, UK-registered H726 LDP, was little-modified from its race days. 962/123 raced at Le Mans in 1988 and was in Schuppan's workshop when the decision was made to convert it to road use. A decal on the nose read "962R Le Mans Prototype", although the car is often referred to as a 962LM. It differed from many of the street versions in having a British-built aluminium honeycomb chassis. The 962R featured in a number of UK and Australian magazines in summer 1991.

Jochen Dauer Dauer 962 Le Mans, used original racing chassis for his GT1 versions of the 962, both road and race. The bodywork was all new, yet retained many elements from the original 962s. However, unlike the previous road cars, Dauer took the 962 Le Mans racing once again. With the assistance of Porsche and using a loophole in the rules for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Dauer was successfully able to race his modified 962s and win the race overall.

A run of Derek Bell edition 962 road cars was planned, but only one completed, powered by a 550 bhp (410 kW) engine from the 993 GT2. It was on sale, complete with the rights to continue the run, in 2007.