When Porsche's racy and costly Carrera RS 3.0 reached the marketplace at the end of 1973, its sales were sluggish. Members of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC), led by King Faisal of Saudi Arabia, had proclaimed an oil embargo targeting nations supporting Israel during the Yom Kippur War. This encouraged strict speed limits throughout Europe, discouraging the sale of 150mph cars. Porsche executives had nightmare visions of having to eat dozens of ducktailed 911s. When the limits set by OAPEC were lifted in 1974, sales picked up, but few more than the planned hundred three-litre Rennsports were manufactured and sold.
The marketing effort for the CarreraFebruary 1974 and was to be telecast by the American Broadcasting Company.
