Fish Silver Grey Metallic
6-Speed Manual
4.0L Flat Six
56 kms
Sydney
$624,998.00 AUD
Every enduring story has a beginning. For Porsche in Australia, that story begins not in Stuttgart, but on Austria’s Grossglockner Pass in the early summer of 1951.
Melbourne businessman Norman Hamilton was travelling through Europe in a rented Oldsmobile when he was overtaken by a low-slung silver sports car being tested by Porsche racing driver Richard von Frankenberg. Hamilton encountered the car and its driver again at an inn farther along the route, where a conversation led him to follow von Frankenberg back to the Porsche factory.
After meeting Ferry Porsche and touring the fledgling company’s facilities, Hamilton secured, on a handshake, the commercial rights to represent Porsche in Australia and New Zealand. He became only Porsche’s second agent outside Europe, after Max Hoffman in the United States.
Central to the agreement was the creation of Porsche’s first series-production right-hand-drive cars. In July 1951, two split-windscreen Porsche 356s were completed: a Maroon Coupé and a Fish Silver Grey Cabriolet. Hamilton collected the cars from the factory and drove them across the Swiss and Italian Alps to Genoa before shipping them to Melbourne.
They arrived in October and were formally presented at Melbourne’s South Melbourne Town Hall on 1 November 1951. Australia thereby became Porsche’s second export territory outside Europe and its first right-hand-drive market, three years before the Volkswagen Beetle officially arrived here.
Seventy years later, Porsche returned to that beginning. Created exclusively for the Australian market, the 911 GT3 70 Years Porsche Australia Edition commemorates one of the longest and most significant relationships in Porsche’s international history.
As the first special edition Porsche developed specifically for Australia, it was the first market-specific edition anywhere in the world to be based upon a Porsche 911 GT model.
Developed collaboratively by Style Porsche, Porsche Exclusive Manufaktur and Porsche Cars Australia, the commemorative GT3 is finished in Fish Silver Grey Metallic, a contemporary reinterpretation of the colour worn by the original 356 Cabriolet brought to Australia by Norman Hamilton in 1951.
Based upon the Type 992 911 GT3 with Touring Package, it is powered by Porsche’s naturally aspirated 4.0l flat-six engine, producing 503hp and 470Nm of torque. Derived from the engine used in the 911 GT3 R competition car, it revs to 9,000rpm and delivers the immediacy and response that have made the 992-generation GT3 a landmark in Porsche’s modern history.
Its motorsport-derived chassis introduced double-wishbone front suspension to a production 911 for the first time. Rear-axle steering, adjustable track-oriented suspension, a mechanical rear differential lock and extensive lightweight construction give the GT3 exceptional precision, while the Touring Package replaces the standard GT3’s fixed rear wing with an automatically deploying rear spoiler.
The result is a car capable of genuine racing-car performance without visually announcing it.
Inside, Porsche translated the historical theme with remarkable attention to detail.
The lightweight carbon-fibre full bucket seats are trimmed in Graphite Blue leather, with centres finished in specially selected Madraskaro check fabric in Graphite Blue and Crayon. The combination has the warmth and texture of an early Porsche interior while remaining unmistakably contemporary.
Fish Silver Grey Metallic continues across the dashboard and centre-console trim, with the dashboard carrying the dedicated “GT3 70 Years Porsche Australia Edition” inscription. Further identifying details include the embossed “70” logo on the centre storage compartment, illuminated commemorative door sills, a Crayon gear-pattern graphic, Crayon contrast stitching and a matching 12-o’clock marker on the GT3 sports steering wheel.
Even the painted vehicle keys, leather key pouch and bespoke Graphite Blue indoor car cover were created specifically for the edition.
Beneath these historically inspired details is one of Porsche’s most accomplished modern road cars.
Standard equipment specific to the Australia Edition includes:
Importantly, this example was specified with the six-speed GT sports manual transmission, the most engaging and enduringly desirable configuration for the Touring-bodied GT3.
Delivered in February 2022 by Porsche Centre Sydney South, it has remained in dedicated collector storage from new, this exceptional example remains in effectively new condition, still retaining its original delivery plastics.
Whist only travelling 56 kilometres, it has nevertheless been serviced annually since its delivery, ensuring its careful preservation has been supported by consistent Porsche maintenance.
In accompaniment, and an exceptionally comprehensive ownership archive. This includes its factory build book containing photographs taken throughout production, the original pre-delivery vehicle preparation checklist, a carefully assembled collection of the relevant factory press and marketing kits issued at the time of release.
Most modern limited editions celebrate a model, an individual or a competition victory. As one of just 25 examples created, this car represents something broader: the beginning of Porsche in Australia, the creation of the world’s first production right-hand-drive Porsche and the entrepreneurial encounter that established an unbroken relationship lasting more than seven decades.
The new owner will be presented with a rare and compelling choice: to preserve the car in its remarkable delivery condition as an important piece of Australian history, or to enjoy the uniquely special of becoming the first person to truly drive it, more than four years after it was delivered.
Combining that uniquely Australian provenance with a naturally aspirated 9,000rpm engine, six-speed manual transmission and the discreet form of the 992 GT3 Touring, this effectively undelivered example represents an exceptional opportunity to acquire one of the most historically meaningful Australian-market Porsches ever created.