I imprinted on these when they came out- I was 10. Though they are the most delicate-looking of cars, the factory team won at Targa Florio in 1966, hence the 911 "Targa". The 906 took the 911's engine, lightened and tuned by the racing department to weigh less than the old 4 cam Carrera. The 906 version made twice as much hp as the mass-market car. 50 906s were sold to customers and at least one was picked up at the Porsche factory, driven to Le Mans as engine break-in, and run in the 24 hour race there.

For a racing car they are durable, efficient and uncomplicated, but you have to remove the engine from the car to change spark plugs. The only luggage space is the passenger's seat, footwell, and the ACO-mandated "suitcase" volumes in the back.

Stylistically and mechanically the 906 is an improvisation- the 15 inch wheels and the moving parts of the suspension are 904 Carrara GTS parts, by economic necessity. The flat top and sides of the cross sections are unrefined. Drivers complained that they couldn't see around or over the front fenders. (910, 907 and 908 would have 13" wheels…) The yellow tinted (?) cover over the engine was more a romantic hold-over than the 904's flat back window and 'sails'

And yet, it still moves for me. What a pretty car! The tension between swoopy profile and square cross section, the all curved green house and the all square opaque body, the saw-kerf-like openings for the completely faired headlights versus the protruding, round tail-lamp assemblies, with cary the only shiny trim on any part of the body… This is a visually stimulating, easily identifiable, car. It looked modern then, it looks modern today. The austere German style calls up more space-ship/rocket plane/warbird purposefulness than a room full of Lamborghinis and post-"E" type Jaguars. The wedge shape at the center of the body recalls and puts a halo over the 901/902 aka 911/912

And yet, like a Paul Simon song, it seems so simple, so un-artful.