We would live in a more beautiful world if there was a great book about every car Porsche 917 Archiv und Werkverzeichnis.
There are many beautiful stories to tell in the history of the car. We like to do that in AMK, but some stories deserve a whole book. We love to read them a lot, but the quality varies a lot. The German car books are usually not full of stories that you lick your fingers at, but full of facts; the tone is more that of a police report than that of a boys' book. So also Porsche 917 Archiv und Werkverzeichnis 1968-1975 from Walter Näher.
The book is written in German, but an English-language edition is also available. It has been a while since the book appeared, but we needed some time to read it: it counts no less than 576 pages, which are filled with almost every fact that could be found on the 917. This is how the racing history is described, by car, sorted by chassis number. Even the dust jacket is beautiful; You can unfold that, after which you will see a number of blueprints of the car. And that's not the only thing, because the book contains hundreds of photos - some very familiar, others totally unknown. And to show that we are not exaggerating when talking about 'hundreds of photos': to be precise, it is about 244 color photos, 348 black and white photos and 57 black and white images. Because the size of the book is a sturdy 30,8 x 24,6 centimeter, the photos stand out well.
The only point of criticism is that we, the Dutch, would like to have just a little more information about the 917 that won the 1971 hour from Le Mans in 24. That car drove a record distance that remained in the books for almost 40 years. For Walter Näher, however, all 917s are the same, so it stays with those few simple rules:
'05-06-1971: Fertigstellung as dritte Fahrzeug mit magnesium Rohrramen (Kurzheck mit Flossen). 12-06-1971: Le Mans 24H, Marko / Van Lennep (Training 229 km, Running 5.340 km). 2014: Porsche Museum. '
After reading this book you will know almost everything about the history of the 917. Our favorite part is that in which you see the photos of the 16-cylinder boxer engine. What a device, and what would we like to drive in a car that contains that engine. In the strongest version, that engine has a capacity of no less than 7,2 liters and a capacity of 880 hp; we first discovered this book.
There are a thousand facts and facts that make it very worthwhile. Well, the book costs 79 euros, but then you also have something. And we would be delighted if such an extensive book existed for many more cars.
See it yourself? Then view the Excerpt (Pdf).