Inside Porsche’s back catalogue
Hungry for more power than the original push-rod flat-four could deliver, Porsche created the 547 Fuhrmann engine in 1952. This overly complex four-cam flat-four had gear-driven cams with their own flywheels, the roller bearing crankshaft came in several pieces and the whole lot took a terrifying 120 hours to put together.
72
CARMAGA ZINE.CO.UK | October 2018
IN S ID E P O RSC H E’ S BAC K CATALO G U E
WELCOME TO STUTTGART, CALIFORNIA From rare road cars to priceless racers, the Petersen museum in Los Angeles is celebrating Porsche’s 70th birthday in style Words Chris Chilton | Photography James Lipman
October 2018 | CARMAGA ZINE.CO.UK
73
Inside Porsche’s back catalogue
The 911’s circuit success is legendary, but compact dimensions and excellent traction made it a rally star, too. 911s won the European Rally Championship in ’67 and ’68, the year it took the first of four Monte wins. This is a ’73 Carrera RS.
I
MAGINE BEING ASKED to distil seven decades and millions of cars from one of the world’s most storied, winningest marques into just 50 cars. It’s like asking a Fab Four fan to pick the top three Beatles tunes, or a stoner to choose just one chocolate bar from the glittering confectionery shelves at the 24-hour garage. Either could take days, and both would still be wracked with insecurity at their final selection afterwards. But that’s what the curators of Los Angeles’ recently remodelled Petersen Automotive Museum tasked themselves with putting together – The Porsche Effect, a year-long exhibition showcasing the best of Porsche’s first 70 years. ‘This exhibit is about how Porsche has created a timeless silhouette; this memorable appeal with such a large fan base,’ says the Petersen’s Brittanie Kinch. And when your eyes follow the gentle curves of the very earliest cars in the collection you can see exactly how. Looking at the 1939 Type 64 in particular is a strangely moving experience, the automotive equivalent of seeing Lennart Nilsson’s famous 1965 pictures of embryos for the very first time. In the silhouette, the window graphic and the way the bodywork curves seamlessly from flank to tail are clear signposts to the shape we know today as the 911. The 911 dominates the exhibition, but there are plenty of reminders that Porsche design and engineering has followed different paths, some of which – like the four-door 928 con-
74
CARMAGA ZINE.CO.UK | October 2018
cept – turned out to be dead ends (albeit temporarily). And there’s a clear emphasis on the importance of Southern California’s shaping of the Porsche legend, from Steve McQueen’s 356 Speedster to Rob Dickinson’s own hot-rodded 911 that inspired his Singer Vehicle Design business. Inevitably, Porsche’s motorsport achievements also feature heavily, from the little 550 Spyder to the recently retired 919 Hybrid. What impresses isn’t merely the volume of victories but the variety, the ability of marque and driver to win at disparate disciplines epitomised by Vic Elford standing on the podium’s top step at the 1968 24 Hours of Daytona in a 907 only days after coming home first on the Monte in a 911. Like the best family films, The Porsche Effect works on several levels. You could grab your popcorn and simply see it as just a bunch of cool cars and come away with a big smile and camera packed with Instagram gems. Or you can dig deeper and find yourself blown away by the sophisticated engineering and desire to innovate at a company that’s occasionally – and unfairly – regarded as conservative because of its reluctance to give up on a rear-engined layout laid down over 70 years ago. Many companies struggle to link a glittering past with a more prosaic present. But the fact that cars like the Type 64, RSR and 917 can sit cheek by jowl with a 991 Carrera GTS 911 without any one of them appearing out of place proves Porsche understands its heritage, and how it got here. The Porsche Effect runs until 27 January 2019 at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles and is well worth a visit. For tickets and info go to petersentickets.org
Evolved from the 906 and built between ’66 and ’67 using either a flat-six or flat-eight engine, the 910’s stand-out result was a top-four clean sweep at the Nürburgring 1000km. In the foreground: racing and road (‘strasse’) versions of the GT1.
Badged ‘Turbo Carrera’ in the US, the car Europeans knew simply as the 911 Turbo transplanted Porsche’s forced induction racing know-how into the 911 road car. Slim spoiler means this is an early 256bhp 3.0-litre car – later examples had a 3.3-litre engine and a box under the spoiler for the intercooler.
McLaren’s switch to Honda engines left Porsche free to try its hand at IndyCar, F1’s Stateside rival. Development of the 2.6-litre turbocharged V8 was overseen by Porsche engine guru Hans Mezger but major success never materialised and Porsche pulled the plug in 1990.
October 2018 | CARMAGA ZINE.CO.UK
75
Inside Porsche’s back catalogue
Number 46 is Porsche’s first ever Le Mans winner, thought lost
The milder Group 4-spec 934 is often overshadowed by the contemporary flat-nose 935s with their sexy Martini livery, but it’s still a near-500bhp monster. This car, campaigned by Vasek Polak racing, was Trans-Am champ in ’76.
The 911 Turbo (or 930 in Porschespeak) in Guards Red, an ’80s yuppie favourite and still on the configurator today. The first owner of this 3.3 was too tight to pay for the passenger door mirror option.
The 935/76 twinturbo flat six was used in the famous ‘Moby Dick’ 935 racecar. With four-valve, watercooled heads, it also propelled the 956 to a 1-2-3 Le Mans clean sweep.
76
CARMAGA ZINE.CO.UK | October 2018
STRIKING RETRO GOLD Number 46 is a 1949 356 SL, Porsche’s first ever Le Mans class winner, thought lost but recently restored by Emory Motorsports. The body was aluminium to cut weight and those wheel spats aid airflow (every little helps when you’ve only got 45bhp…).
WHY PORSCHE JUST BUILT A NEW 993 TURBO
Anyone can restore an old Porsche, but only Porsche can build a new one, and to celebrate the company’s 70th birthday, Porsche Classic created Project Gold, a brand new, one-of 993 Turbo built 20 years after production ended. ‘The starting point was a new bodyshell left over from 993 production,’ explains Alexander Fabig, head of Porsche Classic, the company arm that deals with parts and restoration for pre-997 cars. ‘We’d seen what our colleagues at Porsche Exclusive had done with the 991 Turbo S Exclusive and we wondered how a car like the 991 Turbo Exclusive would have looked if Porsche had built one back in 1995,’ he says. Seven of Porsche Classic’s tiny 14-man crew spent 18 months working on Gold. Modifications to the standard Turbo body included recreating the rear wing vents found on Turbo S cars and finishing it in Golden Yellow. The interior is trimmed in black leather with gold stitching, while the lightest internal components are selected for the S-spec 3.6-litre flat six, meaning it most likely produces more than the quoted 444bhp. ‘When we restore a customer car we spend around 1500-2000 hours rebuilding it to factory original specification,’ explains Fabig. ‘But with Project Gold there were probably an additional 1000 hours spent on the features that make it diferent.’ But couldn’t it have been more diferent? Comparisons with Singer’s wilder creations are inevitable and some are bound to find Project Gold a little meek. ‘We have huge respect for the other companies out there,’ Fabig admits. ‘We discussed making
more modifications to bring in more modern components, like a newer engine or more carbonfibre, but we decided not to do that. We wanted it to feel authentic and what we have done better reflects what we do at Porsche Classic.’ On the surface this is simply a fun 70th anniversary present to itself, a showcase of what Porsche Classic can do and a reminder of how extensive its range of available parts is. But it’s also Porsche reaching out to comfort and reassure hardcore fans as it prepares to launch the electric Taycan and make another giant leap away from its air-cooled past. Project Gold will be auctioned at RM Sotheby’s Porsche 70th Anniversary Sale at the Porsche Experience Centre in Atlanta in October. Proceeds go to the youthfocused Ferry Porsche Foundation.
October 2018 | CARMAGA ZINE.CO.UK
77
Inside Porsche’s back catalogue
Original engineering drawings and scale models also feature in the exhibition. But given the price of classic Porsche bits you probably still can’t afford one.
Stunning aerobodied Type 64 is one of three aluminium-bodied cars built from Volkswagen chassis for a 1939 BerlinRome endurance race. Due to WWII, the race never happened, but the Type 64’s influence looms large.
Porsche slapped an S on the 924 Carrera GT’s name, and a set of fibreglass panels and 911 Turbo brakes, to create the GTS. Only 15 of the 59 built were caged Club Sport versions like this one.
Finned wheel covers helped draw air onto the discs of Kremer’s highly modified Porsche 935. Other changes included reshaped rear bodywork and a transmission turned upside down to make swapping gears easier.
The Type 64 is the Porsche equivalent of Lennart Nilsson’s 1965 pictures of embryos
78
CARMAGA ZINE.CO.UK | October 2018
Le Mans winners, 10ft and 36 years apart. This red and white 919, driven by Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley and Mark Webber, came second in Porsche’s 2015 1-2 finish, while the Kremer K3 was outright winner back in ’79.
If the 928 couldn’t topple the 911 as the people’s favourite Porsche sports car, maybe it could cut it as a family GT? Two decades before the Panamera, Porsche investigated that thought with the 1987 H50 concept, but it never made production.
October 2018 | CARMAGA ZINE.CO.UK
79
The 550 was so low Hans Herrmann piloted his under a level crossing in the ’54 Mille Miglia
Porsche’s first ground-up racer, the 550 used a spaceframe chassis and mid-mounted fourcam flat-four pushing out 110bhp – plenty given its 590kg weight. So low, Hans Hermann piloted his under a level crossing barrier in the ’54 Mille Miglia.
After its ’98 Le Mans win, Porsche turned to LMP2 with the new RS Spyder (yellow and red racecar), dominating in ALMS from 2005 to 2008, then donating the engine to 2010’s 918 hypercar concept. This car won the 12 Hours of Sebring.
Porsche’s new ’69 917 had an equally new Hans Mezgerdesigned 4.5-litre flat-12 motor delivering 520bhp and the reliability to win Le Mans the following year. By 1973, turbocharged versions racing in Can-Am were making twice as much power.
80 CARMAGA ZINE.CO.UK | October 2018
Inside Porsche’s back catalogue
The first 356, a mid-engined spaceframe twoseater, didn’t make production. But 356/2, a two-plustwo rear-engined coupe did, and set the template. A 1100cc Beetle engine, bigger valves, twin carbs and a compression hike lifted power from 25 to 40bhp.
The business end of the Kremer K3 that beat the factory team to win Le Mans in ’79. One of Kremer’s mods was to ditch water-toair intercooling for air-to-air. Both versions made the same power early in a race, but Kremer’s solution didn’t lose it when temperatures rose.
Rumours that the US would ban convertibles led to the 911 Targa in 1966. The removable plastic back window was replaced by a glass one for ’69. In the background is a Porsche Junior, a Honda-powered pocket Porsche built for rich kids in the ’80s.
October 2018 | SAVE UP TO 62% WHEN YOU SUBSCRIBE TO CAR! GRE ATMAGA ZINES.CO.UK
81