Porsche 911

The 911 or nine-eleven is a famous and distinctive sportscar automobile made by Porsche. Many racing versions of the 911 have been developed and these cars have won numerous prestigious circuit races and rallies.

History

The 911 was launched in 1963 (as the Porsche 901, before Peugeot's complaints led to a name change) as the replacement to the 356. The car had a 2-litre, 6-cylinder, air-cooled boxer engine at the rear and a five speed manual transmission. The styling was by Butzi Porsche, son of the company founder Ferry Porsche. Erwin Komenda, the leader of the Porsche car body construction department, was involved in the design.

Early developments included lengthening the wheelbase from 221 cm to 227 cm, adding fuel injection and increasing the engine displacement to 2.2 and later, 2.4 litres. In 1967 the Targa version was introduced, named after the Targa Florio, a motoring event held on the island of Sicily, in which Porsche had various successes. The Targa had a removable roof panel, a removable plastic rear window (although this was soon replaced by a fixed glass item) and a stainless steel roll bar. The reason for using this design was that Porsche thought (incorrectly) that fully open convertibles would be banned in the US, an important market for the 911. In 1973 a special 911, called the 2.7 Carrera RS, was developed for homologation in GT racing. This lightened car had a 2.7 litre engine that developed 210 bhp (157 kW), widened wheelarches and a 'ducktail' rear spoiler. Although Porsche was only required to make 500 cars for homologation, the Carrera's sales success meant that just over 1500 were eventually made. This car is now widely considered to be one of the best small sportscars of all time.

In 1974 the appearance of the 911 had its first major change with new front and rear bumpers, wing mirrors and indicator units. At the same time, engine capacity was increased to 2.7 litres. In 1975 the first turbocharged 911, the 930 was introduced. Since then a turbocharged variant has been an almost permanent part of the 911 range. The engine capacity of the naturally aspirated models was increased to 3.0 litres and 3.2 litres in 1976 and 1984 respectively and in 1986, for the first time a Cabriolet was available.

In the late 1970s, Porsche attempted to replace the 911 with its 924 and 928 models, but demand for the earlier car continued to be strong.

In 1989 the 911 underwent what were at the time its most major changes, both in terms of styling and mechanics, with the 964 series, the first 911 to be available with four-wheel-drive. The 1994 model (codenamed 993) had further styling changes.

The following model, launched in 1997 (codenamed 996), has a fully water cooled engine and technically shared little with its predecessors. Its centre section was changed for the first time since the wheelbase increase. It was criticized initially for sharing its front end with the Porsche Boxster, although the 996 was on the drawing board first. Otherwise, the Pinky Lai-penned shape followed the original Butzi Porsche one.

In July 2004, the current model, (codenamed 997), was launched and its front end aped earlier 911 models.

A 998 series is expected around 2008.

A notable variant of the 911 was the Porsche 959, a turbocharged, four-wheel-drive supercar of the late 1980s.