Porsches change. What makes them Porsches doesn’t.
What is it about a decades-old Porsche that makes it so very desirable—even with the $15,000-plus price tag such a car is more likely to command these days?
Horsepower? Top speed?
None of the above.
Its true value lies in the total commitment of two uncompromising men to build cars that would be more than simply a means of getting from one place to another. Cars that would be a joy to drive. Cars like no one else had ever built. Or ever would.
This commitment has been passed on successfully—some might say miraculously—to the uncompromising people who build Porsches today.
The workers on the Zuffenhausen assembly line who, in their off-hours, have been known to grab their friends, point at a passing Porsche and say with genuine pride, “That’s one of mine.”
The quality control technicians—one for every production workers—whose goal is to take the ideal of “zero defects” and make it a daily reality.
And, of course, the engineers at our R&D facility at Weissach.
For them, the pursuit of excellence will never fit comfortably between the hours of 8 and 5. Or within the theoretical vacuum of an air-conditioned office.
For them, theories have value only on the inside of a Porsche, at speed, on the Weissach test track—preferably with one of them behind the wheel.
The results of their labors, and the extent of their success, is reflected in the procession of cars you see below.
From the first recorded Porsche win on July 11, 1948 at Innsbruck to the most recent victory at LeMans, these cars have dominated the racing circuits of a world that loves fast cars.
As they have dominated the highways, turnpikes, interstates, autobahns, city streets and winding back roads of a world that loves to drive them.