Robert Redford's Affinity With Porsche

When Robert Redford passed away earlier this week, the tributes naturally celebrated his unmatched career on screen and his legacy as a director, activist, and founder of Sundance. Yet away from the cameras, Redford carried a quieter passion, one that linked him to the same automotive world that fascinated so many of his Hollywood contemporaries. For Redford, that connection was with Porsche. 

Redford’s Decade with a Road-Going Racer

Perhaps the most fascinating chapter in Redford’s Porsche story is the 1964 904 GTS he owned for more than a decade. Redford purchased his example in 1966 just three years before taking on one of his most memorable roles as the Sundance Kid in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. 

It was through this car that Redford developed a bond with Paul Newman, who was just discovering a passion for racing. Redford even let Newman drive the 904 on track, a gesture that helped spark Newman’s lifelong obsession with motorsport. While there’s no official record of Redford entering competition himself, he did recall lapping Lime Rock when both men lived in Connecticut, though he admitted Newman was decisively quicker!

The 904 itself was a special machine. Built primarily for competition but usable on the road, it was Porsche’s first fiberglass-bodied model, light and purposeful, with a chassis engineered for either a four- or six-cylinder engine. On track, it quickly proved its pedigree, scoring victories at Sebring, the Nürburgring, Spa-Francorchamps, Reims, the Targa Florio, and even class dominance at Le Mans. Yet with the arrival of the 906, production ended at just 100 cars.

Redford’s example was originally ordered new by Californian enthusiast and racer Steve Earle, who intended to race the car for the 1964 season. That would explain why Chassis 904 012 was duly crated, placed aboard a Pan Am flight, and flown from Stuttgart to New York’s JFK Airport in January 1964.

Despite the effort, Earle never actually raced the car, and it was soon passed on to another Steve—Steve Berg. That’s when its competition career began. Entered under the Otto Zipper banner and driven by Hollywood producer Kurt Neumann, the GTS contested several events that year and even landed on the cover of Road & Track.

After the ’64 season, the car was repainted in dark blue with a striking silver nose and fitted with upgraded brakes. Berg then campaigned it under his own name at circuits such as Laguna Seca and Willow Springs, before selling it to Redford in 1966.

The SC Targa

SANTA FE, N.M. — “You may not want to ride with me when you see how I drive.” Robert Redford says when scouting locations for The Milagro Beanfield War.

The other Porsche Redford was believed to have owned was a 1980 Porsche 911 SC Targa. His connection with the car was documented in a Newspaper column in the Los Angeles Times on Oct. 19, 1986. 

Then he’s gunning down a mountain road outside tiny Truchas, N.M., in a silver Porsche Targa, taking curves neatly at 60 m.p.h. Half a movie company pulls out behind him in vans and trucks, moving to a valley setup while Redford scouts locations on the way. “I used to race these things,” he says, and as he downshifts on another curve, maintaining a perfect four-wheel drift, you believe him.

Porsche on Screen

Redford’s connection with Porsche wasn’t confined to real life. In Spy Game (2001), the filmmakers put him in a dark green Porsche 912, and it couldn’t have been a more fitting choice. The 912 was leaner, less obvious than a 911 and a car that carried the same quiet authority Redford projected on screen.

Then of course there was the Bahama Yellow 911 from Downhill Racer (1969), a car that was practically a character in its own right. Unlike the understated 912 in Spy Game, this 911 was bold, bright, and driven with the spirited competitiveness of Redford’s ski racer, David Chappellet.

Robert Redford’s life was defined by storytelling, whether on screen, on stage, or through Sundance. His Porsche story, though less public, reveals something essential about him. It gives us further insight into his style and his independence and serves as a reminder that his sense of freedom and individuality extended well beyond the roles he played.