Background
If it’s actually possible to own a sensible supercar then the Porsche 911 must surely be it. Since its inception in 1963 it’s become the go-to for those who like their performance cars a little more Tectonically screwed together than our Latin friends sometimes manage.
The history of the Porsche brand begins in 1948, and the existence of the sports car manufacturer is the life's work of Professor Ferdinand Porsche, which his son Ferry continued. Ferdinand was already designing ground breaking innovations in car construction at the beginning of the last century. With the Lohner-Porsche, he built an electric vehicle with wheel hub drive in 1900 and, a little later, the world's first all-wheel drive passenger car on this basis. Also in the same year he provided a template for hybrid vehicles with the development of a gasoline-electric mixed drive. In 1931 Ferdinand Porsche founded his own engineering office in Stuttgart. With the Berlin-Rome Car in 1939, he laid the foundation for the idea of a sports car with the name Porsche. However, World War 2 brought an abrupt end to his plans, and it was his son Ferry who realized that dream in 1948 with the Porsche 356.
The 356’s successor, the Porsche 911 was designed by Ferry Porsche's son Ferdinand Alexander, and it was this car that put Porsche firmly on the map as a maker of fine performance cars. Since 1963 the 911 has become a legend.
The original 911 was based on the Porsche 356 and would have been called the 901, were it not for the fact that Peugeot claimed the rights over that name. The new car maintained the 356's fastback design, and had an air-cooled flat-six that produced 130bhp.
Once production of the 356 finally ceased in 1965, Porsche used the 356's four-cylinder engine in the 912, a visually similar but cheaper four cylinder version of the 911 that was only produced between 1965 and 1969.
Porsche introduced the innovative and patented Targa in 1965 – the prominent, protective rollbar defined this design, and the roof panel between it and the windscreen could be removed, creating an open air experience for those who wanted the wind in their hair.
1966 saw a power bump up from 130bhp to 160bhp, and in order to handle this extra 30bhp, the chassis and brakes were improved, and newly designed lightweight Fuchs wheels were fitted. However, the rear engine character of the 911 remained, making it challenging to drive at the grip limit.
Porsche upped the displacement of the 911's engine in 1970 to 2.2 litres, while at the same time the cars were lightened through the use of aluminium in the engine lids and bumpers.
Finally, in 1999 the liquid cooled Porsche 911 996 took over, and 36 year reign of the mighty air-cooled 911 came to an end.
