The legend of Porsche

The history of Porsche road cars is undoubtedly dominated by the history of the Porsche 911, and its predecessor the 356. The flat-4 and then flat-6 engines, the rear engine position (behind the rear axle) and, until the late 1990s, air-cooling, are all Porsche trade-marks. Porsche tried front-mounted, water-cooled engines and rear wheel drive with the 924/ 944/ 968 between 1975 and 1994, and with the V8 Porsche 928, 1977-1994, but the 911-line is held to represent the classic Porsche. Our special interest here is with the 911-Turbo which offers four wheel drive and with the 911 and 959 4WD rally cars. The official "date of birth" for the first Porsche is considered being June 8, 1948. Number one, a two-seat 356 with a 1.1 litre centre engine, 40 HP weighing 650 kg. The following 50 speciemens of the so-called 356/2 were hand built in Gmünd/Kärnten (Austria). These cars almost resembled the classic 356 and are today, if at all to be found, almost priceless In late 1949 the Reutter company in Stuttgart (Germany) are given the assignment to build 500 body works for an adjusted model of the 356. This became the classic 356. With a 1.1 litre engine and 40 HP, it reached because of the good aerodynamics a speed of 140 kph, and was sold at a price of DM 12.000. At that time Ferry Porsche thought that it was impossible to sell more than 500 cars, a more than pleasant mistake. On March 15, 1954 car no 5.000 left the factory. In 1953 the famous Porsche label badge is seen for the first time. In April 1965 the last Porsche 356 leaves the assembly line after 17 years of production. All in all 81.003 Porsche 356 were built together with about 1.194 in various Carrera versions. 1959 saw the beginning of the development of a new Porsche. On September 12, 1963, a new generation Porsche designed by "Butzi" Porsche, a prototype called 901 was introduced at the IAA. Not until August 1964 did it become possible to deliver the first 901 (911) to customers. In late fall of 1964 the French car producer Peugeot objects to the name 901 because the combination of three - with a zero in the middle - was patented. Porsche responded right away, changing the name to 911 and offered the car to the German and international markets at a price of DM 21.900. The 911 was "born" in the year (1963) when JFK was assassinated and its look still survives. It became one of the biggest sports cars in the world and is - together with the 356 - the foundation of the success Porsche has had so far. On June 15, 1996 Porsche no 1.000.000 was delivered. The Boxter model is introduced in 1996 after 3 and a half years of development. Two years later, Ferry Porsche dies at the age of 88 but the company moves on and has a great season at Le Mans with the 911 GT1, coming in first and second. This was going to be only the beginning for Porsche, which continued with the very sporty and high-performance models Boxster S and the Carrera GT in 2000. In 2002 Porsche entered the SUV market with the unconventional Cayenne and its later versions, the Cayenne Turbo and Turbo S. The next model on the line-up for Porsche, announced for 2009 is the Panamera, a four-door sedan. With this new model, Porsche seems set to take on a whole new market, directly competing with other luxury brands such as Mercedes, BMW and Audi.