The oldest Porsche 901 in the Museum’s collection is undergoing a complete restoration which they acquired following a long-neglected stay in private hands. I hope there are periodic video updates released as she starts to come together.
Via Total911.
Tag: porsche 911
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I’m Only 37 Years Late for this 911R
This ad for a Porsche 911R for sale in the October 1977 is one of those astonishing pieces of text that you have to read several times before it quite hits you. Daniel Cole sent this in after he uncovered the clipping during a Porsche Club of America history project he’s working on.
$12,500 in 1977 is $51,235.34 in 2014 dollars. I don’t know the last time that the ex-Siffert 1967 Porsche 911R #1899 005R changed hands, but I’m guessing it was a touch more than $50 Grand.. More than 10x that I’d imagine—maybe 20. Maybe I should phone up the current owner The Collier Collection’s Revs Institute and make an offer.
Thanks for sending this in Daniel!
Japan’s Motorhead Magazine visited the Porsche museum and they’ve let us tag along.
Now I know you’re going to be tempted to read these subtitles. I understand how difficult it is to try overcome the urge. It just compels the viewer to glance down at that text; wrestling with your brain and your eyes.
It’s ok. Don’t fight it. Go ahead and read along. Then start the video over and lose yourself in those slow, luxurious pans over these breathtaking machines.
Have we really gone from a society that expresses itself through every color of the rainbow to one that only cherishes black, silver, white or red in only 36 years?
Soon enough we’ll be back to Henry Ford’s Model T color availability.
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Eye Candy: Porsche 911 RSR
Gulf Blue Porsche 911 RSR. Yes, please.
available in wallpaper sizes at GT Porsche via Motoring Con Brio
What do you say we take a spin around Silverstone with Porsche Experience driving consultant Gordon Roberston?
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McQueen on 911
Speaking of early 911s, let’s hear what Sports Illustrated’s guest sportscar reviewer, Steve McQueen, thought of the 911 in 1966. This is excerpted from a larger article in which Steve drove the latest sportscars from Porsche, Aston Martin, Ferrari, Alfa, Mercedes, Jaguar, and the latest Cobra and Corvette.
“Like the 230SL, the other German car, the Porsche 911, was a six. The Mercedes straight-six is in the front. The Porsche flat-six, with horizontally opposed cylinders—an engine developed from the Grand Prix car of a few seasons ago—is in the rear. I was curious to see how much the Porsche had changed since I raced my Super, which had the four-cylinder engine. Boy, it’s changed. Road noise used to be a problem with that rear-engine location, but on the 911 I got very little noise. The old Porsches had that violent oversteer tendency, and they would get out of whack with no warning. You’d be hung out and locked in your steering with nowhere to go. We used to decamber the rear wheels 2½° to 3½°, so they kind of looked like somebody had sat on them, and toe them in half a degree to get a certain amount of stability. Now the problem has been corrected. The 911 was a very neutral-handling car, very docile, very pleasant to drive, and the five-speed gearbox sure was easy to use. The brakes were just fine. Once a gust of wind caught me on the back straight and slid me over a few feet, but the car didn’t get radical in its handling.
There is a four-cylinder Porsche—the less expensive 912—and I imagine it has a little more snap at low RPM than the 911 but not as much top speed. With that six the 911 honks right along.”
Steve McQueen
There you have it, the cooler king’s impressions reacquainting himself with Porsche, which of course worked out splendidly for the next few years. After all, like the poster says, McQueen drives Porsche. All that and a bonus handling modification tip for 356 drivers.
Thanks, Steve.