Teloche

Teloche

As part of the planning for its 1951 Le Mans adventure, Le Mans organizer Charles Faroux recommended Porsche use the small garage in the village of Teloche as their headquarters. The owner rented the team a small portion of his repair shop and would continue to do so every year until the early 1980s.

SL 063 is one of 2 cars that Porsche campaigned in the 1951 Le Mans. The sister car was wrecked in pre-race practice and withdrawn from the event. SL 063, carrying race number 46 had a trouble-free race and won the 1100cc class. In November of 1951 Porsche sold the car to American importer, Max Hoffman. SL 063 was then sold to John von Neumann and raced in California. The cars success helped to launch the sales success of Porsche in California.

Cameron Healy acquired SL 063 in 2009 and after a multi-year research and restoration project, returned the car to its 1951 Le Mans condition. As part of the Le Mans 100 year and Porsches 75th anniversary the car was returned to Europe for the first time in over 70 years.

In the spring of 2023 I was lucky to be part of the small team that transported SL 063 from Porsche in Zuffenhausen to Le Mans. We retraced the route the Porsche team had used in 1951 and would stop in French villages along the way to photograph the car as Cameron drove it.

We finished the road trip at Rue du 8 Mai, Teloche. The garage that Porsche first used in 1951. It was an emotional experience reuniting the car with the original garage and having the privilege of recording the moment.