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Porsche 911 (G-Series) - The Story
Porsche 911 (G-Series) (1973 – 1989) Story & History G-Model – The 2nd Generation Porsche 911 Premiere: September 12, 1973 IAA Frankfurt Starting with the model year 1968, Porsche internally assigned a letter to each model year – MY1968 was “A”, MY1969 was “B” and so on. Model year 1974...
Porsche 911 (992) (2019 – Present) Story & History Type 992 – The 8th Generation Porsche 911 Porsche 911 992 Carrera Coupé/Targa/Cabriolet Official photos: 2018 November 27 / Premiere: 2018 November 27 at Porsche Experience Center Los Angeles / Market launch: 2019 (as a 2020 model) The design of the...
Porsche 911 (991) (2004 – 2012) Story & History Type 991 – The 7th Generation Porsche 911 Porsche 911 991.1 Carrera Coupé/Targa/Cabriolet (2015-2018) Official photos: 2011 August 23 / Premiere: 2011 September 15 IAA Frankfurt motor show / Market launch: 2011 December 3 The 2012 model 911, internally (and confusingly)...
Porsche 911 (997) - The Full Story
Porsche 911 (997) (2004 – 2012) Story & History Type 997 – The 6th Generation Porsche 911 Official photos: 2004 May 7 / Premiere: 2004 July 16 at 9:11 pm at all the 85 Porsche centres in Germany / Market launch: 2004 July 17 On May 7, 2004, Porsche announced...
Porsche 911 (996) - The Story
Porsche 911 (996) (1997 – 2005) Story & History Type 996 – The 5th Generation Porsche 911 Premiere: GT1 May 4, 1997 Le Mans test day, Carrera September 11, 1997 IAA Frankfurt Motor Show The designers were assigned to design the 996-generation 911 in 1993. Working under the head of...
Porsche 911 (993) - The Story
Porsche 911 (993) (1993 – 1998) Story & History Type 993 – The 4th Generation Porsche 911 Premiere: 1993 September 9 at IAA Frankfurt motor show Clay model – note the fender design© Porsche One of the prototypes. Note the 964 wheels.© Porsche The rear lamp design that was first...
Porsche 911 964
Porsche 911 (964) (1988 – 1994) Story & History Type 964 – The 3rd Generation Porsche 911 Premiere: 1988 September 28 at Mondial de l’Automobile Paris motor show After the 1984 model year 911 Carrera 3.2 had entered the markets, the plans for the next generation 911 were set. In March-April...
3rd Generation Porsche Cayman (981) Story & History IMPORTANT NOTE: The 981 was actually the second generation of Cayman. We are referring to it as the third generation on this site because it is the third generation of the Boxster platform. The Cayman and Boxster platforms have been the same...
Porsche Cayman 987
2nd Generation Porsche Cayman (987) Story & History IMPORTANT NOTE: The 987 was actually the first generation of Cayman. We are referring to it as the second generation on this site because it is the second generation of the Boxster platform. The Cayman and Boxster platforms have been the same...
4th Generation Porsche Boxster & Cayman (982) Story & History Boxster & Cayman 982 (2016 – 2016) Official photos: Boxster 2016 Jan 27, Cayman 2016 Apr 24, GTS 4-cylinder 2017 Oct 18, GTS 6-cylinder 2020 Jan 16 / Premiere: Boxster 2016 March 1 at Geneva motor show press day, Cayman...
Porsche Boxster 981
3rd Generation Porsche Boxster (981) Story & History Boxster 981 (2013 – 2016) Official photos: 2012 January 12, GTS 2014 March 19 / Premiere: 2012 March 6 at Geneva motor show, GTS 2014 April 20 at Auto China in Beijing / Market launch: 2012 April 14 (as a 2013 model),...
2nd Generation Porsche Boxster (987) Story & History Boxster 987.1 (2005 – 2008) Official photos: 2004 September 7 / Premiere: 2004 September 23 at Mondial de l’Automobile Paris motor show press day / Market launch: 2004 November 27 Already since 1997, the 986-generation Boxsters were parallelly produced at the Valmet...
1st Generation Porsche Boxster (986) Story & History Porsche Boxster (1997 – 2004) Date of unveil by Porsche AG: official photos in March 1996 (Geneva Motor Show) / Premiere: Journalist events from August 23, 1996 in Bergisch Gladbach, Germany, public premiere October 3, 1996 Mondial de l’automobile Paris Motor Show...
1st Generation Porsche Taycan (9J1) Story & History Official photos: Turbo & Turbo S 2019 September 4, 4S 2019 October 14 / Premiere: 2019 September 4 for invited quests in Germany, China and Canada, publicly 2019 September 12 at IAA Frankfurt motor show / Market launch: Turbo & Turbo S...
1st Generation Porsche Macan (95B.2) Story & History Macan (2019 – 2021) Official photos: 2-litre 2018 July 25, S 2018 December 11, Turbo 2019 August 29, GTS 2019 December 17 / Premiere: 2018 July 25, Shanghai / Market launch: in the end of 2018 as a 2019 model 2019 –...
porsche macan
1st Generation Porsche Macan (95B.1) Story & History Macan (2014 – 2018) Official photos: 2013 November 19, GTS 2015 October 28 / Premiere: 2013 November 19, Los Angeles Auto Show / Market launch: 2014 April 5, GTS 2015 October 28 2014 – 2018 Macan Technical Specifications Development As the Macan...
1st Generation Porsche Panamera (970.2) Story & History Panamera (2014 – 2016) Official photos: 2016 June 28 / Premiere: for press on 2016 June 28 in Berlin / Market launch: 2016 November 5 The body The interior design was top class already in the original Panamera (970) and it was...
Porsche Panamera 970.2 - The Story
1st Generation Porsche Panamera (970.2) Story & History Panamera (2014 – 2016) Official photos: 2013 April 3 / Premiere: 2013 April 20, Auto China press day / Market launch: 2013 July 27 (as 2014 model) Performance Data (1st Gen Panamera 970.2) 1st Generation Panamera Refresh & Update In May 2013...
Porsche Panamera 970.1 - The Story
1st Generation Porsche Panamera (970.1) Story & History Panamera (2009 – 2013) Official photos: 2008 November 24 / Premiere: 2009 April 19 at Auto Shanghai / Market launch: 2009 September Performance Data (1st Gen Panamera) Panamera History Porsche planned to launch a 4-door car called 989 already in 1995 as the successor...
3rd Generation Porsche Cayenne (9YA) Story & History Cayenne (2019 – Present) Date of unveil by Porsche AG: 2017 August 29 / Premiere: 2017 August 29 in Stuttgart Porsche Museum / Market launch: end of 2017 Performance Data (9Y0)   Performance Data (9Y3) * Sport Chrono Pack/Launch Control ** with...
2nd Generation Porsche Cayenne (958.2) Story & History Cayenne (2015 – 2018) Date of unveil by Porsche AG: 2014 July 24, Turbo S 2015 January 12 / Premiere: 2014 September 26 at Tartu Motoshow, Turbo S 2015 January 12 at NAIAS / World market launch: 2014 October 11 (as 2015...
2nd Generation Porsche Cayenne (958.1) Story & History Cayenne (2010 – 2014) Date of unveil by Porsche AG: 2010 February 25, Turbo S 2012 October 12 / Premiere: 2010 March 2 at Geneva Motor Show / World market launch: 2010 May 8, Turbo S 2013 January Performance Data Porsche 958...
1st Generation Porsche Cayenne (957) Story & History Cayenne (2007 – 2010) Unveil of official photos: 2006 December 4 / Premiere: 2007 January 8, press event before North American / International Auto Show in Detroit / Market launch: 2007 February 24 The 2007 model year was skipped for the Cayenne...
1st Generation Porsche Cayenne (955) Story & History Cayenne (2002 – 2006) Unveil of official photos: 2002 March 4 / Premiere: 2002 September 25 at Paris motor show press day / Market launch: 2002 December Performance Summary Weight here is DIN weight (90% of fuel, no driver, no cargo). Weight...
Porsche 959 History & Story 1985-1988, 1992-1993 Premiere of concept car: 1983 September 15, IAA Frankfurt motor show Premiere of rallye car: 1985 January with 911 engine, 1985 October with 959 engine Premiere of street car: 1985 September 12, IAA Frankfurt motor show Starting from January 1982, the World Rally Championship was run...
Porsche 968 Story
Porsche 968 History & Story The Porsche 944 S3 The successor to the Porsche 944 S2 was called 944 S3. The very good looking and ergonomic interior was already near perfect, so there were no plans to change that. The plan was to revamp the exterior design – to update...
Porsche 944 Story
Porsche 944 History & Story The predecessor, the 924, was initially designed for Volkswagen. It was beautifully done by Porsche and the technical concept of front engine and rear transmission was top notch, but it didn’t have the Porsche engine. The natural evolution of the 924 would be to equip it...
Porsche 924 History & Story The Porsche 924 emerged as the result of a Volkswagen engineering order which did not materialize. Volkswagen had two sports cars in its portfolio – the Karmann Ghia since 1955 (until 1974) and the VW-Porsche 914 since 1969 (until 1976), so in the beginning of...
Porsche 914
Porsche 914 History & Story Porsche needed an entry-level car to replace the 912 and Volkswagen needed a sports car to replace its Karmann Ghia, so the forces were joined to build a sports car that would be an affordable Porsche and a modern Volkswagen. Given the type 914 designation,...
The Porsche 718 Story & History Porsche 718 RSK / RS 60 / RS 61 / RS 62 Spyder (1957-1962) Key Accomplishments 250+ class victories and 600+ podium finishes European Hill Climb Champion 1958-1959-1960-1961 SCCA F Modified category champion 1959-1960-1961-1962 SCCA E Modified category champion 1960-1961-1962-1963 Targa Florio winner 1959-1960...
The Porsche 904 Story & History
Porsche’s Type 904, officially called the Carrera GTS because Porsche and Peugeot were in dispute over numeric designations with “0” in them, succeeded the RSK Type 718 as the last sports-racing iteration of the 356 series. Developed after Porsche left Formula One in 1962, the 904 (as it soon became popularly known) was also the last full-competition Porsche that could be readily driven on the street. This is the full story.
1955. 550 Spyders in the Porsche yard in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen
Porsche 550 (1953-1956) Introduction Porsche needed a race car to compete in the roadster class, and that’s just what the 550 Spyder did at a time when production cars could no longer win. In fact, the third 550 prototype and first 550 to race won its first event at the...
Porsche 928 - The Story
The Porsche 328 Story “A driver’s car built for passengers” In 1971, the design work started on the end-of-the-seventies 911 H-model (that would come after the 911 G-model which was to be launched in 1973). The first plan was to create a wedge-shaped slantnose coupé with a rear-mounted V8 with...
Ferry Porsche with 356 B T5 (produced 1960-1961)
The Porsche 356 Story Porsche engineering company had designed cars for other companies for a long time, but it was finally in 1948 that a first “Porsche” was made under the leadership of Ferdinand Anton Ernst “Ferry” Porsche, the son of Ferdinand Porsche. At that time Porsche company was located...
Porsche Nürburgring Nordschleife Lap Times
Fastest Porsche Nürburgring Nordschleife Times Some say the Nürburgring Nordschleife experience is better than sex. Every lap is so long that when the driver has covered just half of it, there’s still minutes of excitement, fear and pleasure ahead before the lap ends. It is the longest race track in...
ACO Museum, Le Mans 16 September 2020: As it was the 50th anniversary of Porsche’s first win at Le Mans, a special display was set up featuring several of Porsche’s winning cars In 1971 the first ever Starbucks coffee house was opened in Seattle, Washington. That same year, the fourth...
Molly ready for the Peking to Paris rally in 2007 © David & Julie Harrison She was manufactured in 1958, and much of her early life is unrecorded. But in 2004, a customer of Gantspeed Engineering, Lincolnshire, England, asked the workshop’s owner, Robert Gant, to find him a right-hand drive...
Porsche 904/8 (chassis #008) photographed in the Porsche Museum, September 2020 F.A. ‘Butzi’ Porsche, the eldest son of Ferry and Dorothea Porsche, joined the family business in 1958 having shown great interest in the field of industrial design. Working under the direction of Erwin Komenda, F.A. Porsche set about learning...
Autosport 1000 km, Silverstone, 14 September 2008: In the fifth and final round of the 2008 Le Mans Series season, the #34 Porsche RS Spyder was driven by Peter Van Merksteijn and Jos Verstappen and finished first in the LMP2 class and fifth overall, ahead of a brace of LMP1...
Obviously these two attractive models from the lingerie manufacturer Triumph (München) like this Porsche 914/6 – Rutesheim Athletics Club, Baden-Württemberg, Germany (1969) Very different from previous production Porsches, the 914 was an attempt by Zuffenhausen to introduce a lower cost model. Commercially it was only a moderate success, but it’s...
Porsche: The Carrera Dynasty by Glen Smale © Glen Smale A Spanish noun, ‘carrera’ can mean road, track or race and since the 1970s ‘Carrera’ has been a model name synonymous with Porsche. In fact, and as the author explains, Porsche had been using the name ‘Carrera’ since 1954 to...
Porsche 935 JLP-4 at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, 2014 JLP-4 was the final race car in the line of Porsche 935 specials built for the John Paul father and son team. Using this final ‘weapon’, the Pauls notched up several outright victories in IMSA races and, in combination with...
1979 Porsche 935 chassis #009 0004 – Willow Springs International Raceway © Robert Graham Junior The phone rang, it was my old friend Carlos de Quesada. “I’ve just bought a 935 to restore,” he told me. “Great,” I replied, “which one?” “#009 0004,” announced Carlos. Chassis #009 0004? I had...
Arno Bohn at Weissach with the 968 Cabriolet (1991) Arno Bohn was managing director of Porsche from 1990-92. An outsider who came from the computer industry, he arrived at a company seared by falling sales and riven by internal division about future direction. He left a Porsche which though still...
Kremer Porsche 935 K3/80 (chassis #0013) In the mid-70s, Porsche developed the 935 model, a race car homologated on the 930 road car and aimed at the Group 5 ‘silhouette’ series created by the FIA for the 1976 season. As the records will show, the 935 was a formidable race...
Porsche mourns the death of Hans Mezger – this photo was taken in 2007 It was with great sadness that the motoring and motorsport world learned last week of the passing of Hans Mezger, Porsche engineer extraordinaire. He died at the age of 90 years, having grown up and lived...
1981 Porsche Kremer 935 K4 – chassis #K4-01 In the mid-1970s, Porsche developed the 911 for racing, and in the process, it created the all-conquering 935. In 1978, Norbert Singer was responsible for building the ultimate factory 935, the Moby Dick 935/78, and although this race car had a very...
Gérard Larrousse (2017) Former Porsche works driver, Gérard Larrousse, celebrates his 80th birthday on Saturday 23 May 2020. Gérard Gilles Marie Armand Larrousse was born in 1940 in Lyon, where his father ran a textile factory. “I was fascinated by motorbikes and sports cars from a young age but my...
Porsche 356 Cabriolet competing at an aerodrome race in the USA, ca. 1952/1953 America has for decades been Porsche’s biggest market, and this was important for the young and growing company. In some ways, the importance of this market even influenced the development of certain models. In this feature, Porsche...
Sir Stirling sits back and relaxes at the 2013 Goodwood Festival of Speed after being interviewed by the author It was with great sadness that we learned of the passing of Stirling Moss over the Easter weekend. He died on 12 April 2020 in Mayfair, London, England at the age...
1961 Porsche 718 W-RS Spyder ‘Grossmutter’ (chassis #047) photographed at the Porsche Museum, May 2019 The word unique is a much-overused word today, as it is applied, it seems, to just about anything that is produced in small numbers, or even just to enhance a claim about something unusual. In...
Kremer Porsche 935 K3 – chassis #930 890 0021 The Porsche 935 was the Stuttgart manufacturer’s answer to the FIA’s Group 5 class regulations, making it eligible for the World Championship of Makes. The first Porsche car in this so-called ‘Silhouette’ series, was introduced for the start of the 1976...
Lined up in the pit lane before the 1994 Le Mans 24-Hours, is from the left: #36 962 Dauer Le Mans GT driven by Mauri Baldi, Yannick Dalmas and Hurley Haywood; centre is the street-legal 962 Dauer with rather appropriate Boeblingen region (Weissach) registration plate ‘P 962’; on the right...
Le Mans 24 Hours, 14-15 June 1975: Porsche 9083 in the paddock ahead of the race (copyright Yves Ronga) When I’m not helping to sell the occasional old race car, or visiting old race car meetings, I’ve usually got my head down, researching various projects for clients, usually to do...
Professor Ferdinand Porsche (centre) with F. A. ‘Butzi’ Porsche (left) and Ferdinand Piëch (right), ca. 1949 Ferdinand Karl Piëch was born in Vienna, Austria, on 17 April 1937, to Louise (daughter to Ferdinand and sister of Ferry Porsche) and Anton Piëch, a lawyer. He was the grandson of Ferdinand Porsche,...
Porsche Carrera GT The Porsche Carrera GT has become one of the most iconic and sought after Porsche models in the realm of exotic car idolization and ownership. It  is hard to believe, that things didn’t really start off that way. When the Porsche Carrera GT was released in 2004, it...
Le Mans 24 Hour, 13-14 June 2015: Lined up prior to the formation lap are (from L-R) – the #18 Porsche 919 Hybrid driven by Marc Lieb/Romain Dumas/Neel Jani (finished 5th); #17 Porsche 919 Hybrid driven by Timo Bernhard/Brendon Hartley/Mark Webber (finished 2nd); #19 Porsche 919 Hybrid driven by Earl...
Le Mans 24 Hours, 31 May-1 June 1986: Start of the race – Porsches dominate the lead group In Part 1, Stories from Le Mans – with a Porsche flavour, our intrepid scribbler who hails from that beautiful part of South Africa, the Western Cape, shares with us some hilarious...