How it all started
Porsche may have become a watchword for conspicuous consumption in the yuppie era, but in the motor industry no name speaks more purely of engineering genius. Before the second world war, Professor Ferdinand Porsche worked for virtually every German motor manufacturer as a consultant. Probably his most famous creation was the Volkswagen Beetle.
After the war, Prof. Porsche was invited by Renault to come and advise the company on the development of its new 4CV. On arrival, he was arrested and locked up on some spurious war crime charges. His release was on condition that he designed a Grand Prix car for Cisitalia. Meanwhile, his son had built a VW special which he later sold to a Swiss client. This formed the basis of the first real Porsche, the 356.That figure had no more significance than being the next number in Porsche's design record. The first 50 cars were made at Gmund in Austria, but in 1950 Prof. Porsche returned to Stuttgart. The cylinder displacement of the 356 was reduced from 1131cc to 1086cc, allowing it to compete in the under 1100cc class. Later, it grew to 1.6 litres, with close to 80,000 being built by time it was discontinued.
Prof. Porsche died in 1951 but his son continued the business. Building on the success of the 356, in 1963 Porsche unveiled a new prototype, named the 901 . Peugeot immediately objected, claiming 'ownership' of all three-figure numbers with a zero in the middle. So Porsche changed 901 to 911. This car and its characteristic layout, with the flat-six air-cooled engine hung out behind the rear axle line, was to become a design classic. The Turbo was introduced in 1976. It was a fearsome and impressive vehicle, with viciously unforgiving handling. You needed skill and respect it to drive it safely. Nevertheless, over the years the handling has been improved, with less of that white-knuckle feel.
With cars like this, Porsche was naturally notching up seemingly endless wins at Le Mans, starting in 1970 with the fearsome 917 driven by Richard Attwood and Hans Herrmann. In 1972, the company was floated on the stock market.
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The front engined Porsche
The 924 became a Porsche more by chance than demand. The design had been commissioned by Audi in the early 1970s, but in the wake of the 1973 OPEC oil crisis, it pulled out. Rather than scrap the idea, Porsche carried significantly overhauled the design, and launched it as the 924 in 1975. To many the front-mounted, water-cooled engine - based on a VW van unit were anathema despite rear-wheel drive, but over the years the 924's performance was improved with the Turbo and Carrera versions and it proved its worth as a less challenging alternative to the 911.
Eventually Porsche management decided to replace the 911 , and in 1977 they introduced the 928. It was a big, wide car, with a 4.5-litre V8 water-cooled engine at the front. It was very quick, with safe handling. But the 911 simply refused to die, continuing to sell even when the 928 engine went to 5.0 litres.
The 924 was replaced by the 944 in 1982 , similar in design, but with a new engine based on one bank of the 928's V8. The Turbo model arrived in 1985, and a cabrio version in 1991. In 1987 the wraps came off the most advanced Porsche model to date.The 4wd 959 was designed for Group B competition, but by the time it went into production, Group B had become nothing but a memory, and it had become something of a white elephant. Just 200 were made. The 2.9-litre flat-six engine had twin turbos, and water-cooled four-valve cylinder heads. Performance was shattering - 190mph and 0-60mph in 3.7sec .
Having outlived both the 928 , 924 & 944, Porsche accepted the inevitable and continued development of the car. In 1988 came the launch of the four wheel-drive 911 Carrera 4, with electronically controlled four-wheel drive. In 1990, the semi-automatic Tiptronic transmission became available. Developed by Porsche, this system brought to road cars a technology previously used only in racing. Using it, drivers can change up or down sequentially using push buttons located on the steering wheel. A fully automatic mode is also available.
Great Britain is Porsche's largest export market after the United States. Having benefited enormously from the late 1980s boom, especially in the UK, the recession of the early 90s hit Porsche's sales very hard. Fortunately, the company could remain profitable at lower volumes. In any case, it derives much of its income, like Lotus, from closely guarded engineering consultancy work for other companies, a more resilient area.
The never ending story
Later in the decade the situation stabilised, and part of Porsche's response was to expand its appeal with the 1996 launch of the Boxster . This open-top mid-engine rear-drive two-seater was smaller and less expensive than the company's other models but offered the usual technical excellence and was an immediate hit. It had a 2.5-litre version of the water-cooled flat-six engine, and experience of designing was to prove useful very quickly.
Noise regulations finally caught up with the air-cooled flat-sixes in the 911 and in 1997 a radically redesigned version was launched with a 24-valve 3.4-litre fully water-cooled version, with 300bhp . It was obviously new, but there is no mistaking the fact that this is still very much a Porsche 911.
Since is establishment in 1948, the company has produced more than 1 million cars , of which more than 400,000 are 911s . Porsche claim that two-thirds of these cars are still in use , and indeed, despite their reputation for blistering, no-holds-barred performance, the quality of engineering means that Porsche has also been at the forefront of environmental and safety developments. To take but two examples, the company was experimenting with ABS as early as 1969 (high performance brakes have always been vitally important) and it has reduced exhaust emissions during the lifetime of the 911 by more than 95% despite the increases in weight, economy, and performance.
In autumn 1999, Porsche offered for the first time the Boxster S, a higher performance version of basic Boxster, and in early 2000 the first Turbo version of the new 911, with permanent four-wheel drive. In a surprising development for such a sports-oriented company, they then went on to create the fantastically successful Cayenne Sports Utility in 2002. Following the successful Boxster launch in the late 90's it's now brought out the latest version of this highly controversial model. Finally the story pauses with the launch of the new 997 referred to by Porsche as the world's next dream car. The legend is set to continue and we await more radical designs for the future. The Porsche 911 is now officially the longest production run of any sports car in the world ever! This explains why Porsche enthusiasts already speak of the "never-ending story" and every new model that arrives is quite simply history in the making. Check out our latest stock here. All of our cars are handpicked by ourselves..