If you're a fan of vintage racing, you're in for a treat at RM Sotheby's upcoming Pebble Beach auction in the summer, because a beautifully preserved 1968 Porsche 908 'Short-Tail' race car will be going under the hammer. One of only five remaining out of the 31 that were originally built, this particular Porsche racer was driven by Vic Elford, who won the 24 Hours of Daytona in a Porsche 907 the previous year, which was the automaker's first-ever outright win in a 24-hour endurance race.

The car heading to auction, chassis 908-010, represents one-half of a two-car entry Porsche System Engineering fielded for the 1968 Spa 1000Km. Alongside Elford was Jochen Neerpasch, winner of Daytona in a 907 in 1968. Unfortunately, Neerpasch was forced to retire from the race with only two laps to go after crashing in the wet conditions. Chassis 908-010 was subsequently retired by the factory and sold to a private Swiss collector, who left the car in storage for over two decades. The race car was later discovered in the late '90s by Porsche racing expert Dale Miller, who brought it to the US and sold it to a collector.

Its new owner commissioned a comprehensive restoration by prototype expert John Corsen, who prepared the car for the 2004 Rennsport Reunion at Daytona. During the most recent 12 years of ownership, the 908 'Short-Tail' Coupe has participated in numerous historic events and was featured in the Porsche By Design exhibition at the North Carolina Museum of Art in 2013. And now it's looking for a new owner. "The 908 is unquestionably one of the most successful endurance racing platforms that Porsche ever produced," said David Swig, Car Specialist, RM Sotheby's.

"Built to maximize the new 3-liter displacement limits put forth by the FIA at the time, the 908 took a big evolutionary step from the 904, 906, and 907 that came before it. Introduced in 1968 and raced up until the early 1980s, the model had a useful competition life of almost 15 years – an incredibly long time in endurance racing Chassis 908-010 is one of very few of the first-series 908s, which pioneered development of the 908/02 and 908/03; these models went on to become some of Porsche's most celebrated and successful race cars of all time." RM Sotheby's expects the vintage Porsche 908 race car to fetch between $2.3 and $2.8 million when it goes under the hammer in August.