Porsche 904 Living Legend is a Sports Car Concept With V2 Engine

Porsche unveiled a unique 2013 concept inspired by the 1964 904 GT race car.

If it had been revealed to the market back then, Porsche would have created a storm in the automotive world. Weighing only 1984 lb, Porsche’s 904 Living Legend design study incorporated the Ducati 1199 Panigale L-twin engine with a 12,000 rpm redline! Porsche was seeking to construct a lightweight monocoque frame around the engine to give the car formidable performance.

In the past, just one more car used the L-twin’s desmodromic glory to its advantage — the 2015 Volkswagen XL Sport concept. It could sprint from 0-60 mph in just 5.7 seconds thanks to the revvy engine producing 197 hp and 99 lb-ft of torque.

Volkswagen also developed a highly efficient, low-volume XL1 with a hybrid two-cylinder diesel engine that offered a staggering fuel economy of 264 MPG. Also, the drag coefficient of the car is worth noting at a spectacular 0.189! This is the most aerodynamic of all production cars, and it’s such a pity Volkswagen produced only 200 of them.

Riding on the successes of the XL Sport and XL1, Porsche engineers set out to work on a minimalist and lightweight pure sports car. In Porsche’s own words, the concept was not meant to imitate the original 904, but rather to be a car on its own.

However, as it turned out, it had a striking resemblance to the 904. The 904 Living Legend design was a combination of contemporary and retro elements, also featuring the signature rear glass cover, revealing Ducati’s work of art. Meanwhile, the rear body panels contoured smoothly over the rear wheels, ending up in a tidy, discreet long tail.

Due to the challenges of using an exotic powertrain and working out how to apply it into a functional production car, the layout didn’t make sense in the real world, and Porsche eventually dropped it. While it did not see the light of day, it did set the design tone for modern Porsches such as the Panamera, 992 911, and Taycan.

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