Seven decades of Porsche greats

The first Porsche was built in 1948 in a collection of sheds on the site of a former sawmill in a place called Gmund, in Austria.

Its designer had recently been released from prison where he had been interned by the Allies. The car had a more than passing resemblance to the VW Beetle and with good reason for the same man had designed both. He was called Ferdinand Porsche. All its moving parts – engine, brakes, suspension and steering – were either lifted direct or derived from Beetle running gear and despite the engine being given a fairly monumental tuning upgrade, the 1.1 flat four still only generated, wait for it, the power of around 40 horses.

It is fair to say Porsche has come some distance in the 72 years since. During that time Porsche has become the most profitable car company on Earth whose sphere of operation is now so wide that it makes everything from hypercars to SUVs. It has won in Formula 1 and amassed an unrivalled 19 victories at Le Mans. Today those SUVs are the most coveted cars of their kind, yet Porsche has not forgotten its roots: it still makes a flat four open two seater with its engine located behind the driver, just like that first 356 all those years ago. So to celebrate we thought we’d look at some of the very greatest (and just a few of the not so great) cars that brought Porsche from some huts in Austria to becoming the most successful manufacturer of sporting cars the world has ever known:

1948-1958: Porsche 356 Speedster (1954)

Six years into the story of Porsche and the little company was growing fast. Its success was built on the reputation of Ferdinand Porsche as one of Europe’s pre-eminent automotive engineers, and the vision of his son Ferry, who saw a clear gap in the market for a super-high quality sporting car that could be used not merely as a recreation but as daily transport.

The essential rightness of that idea can be seen in the fact that much the same thing can be said about a 911 of today. But Porsches were expensive, too expensive for some tastes in the largest market of all on the other side of the Atlantic. Why buy a Porsche with a small pushrod four cylinder engine when you could buy a Jaguar with a twin cam six of over double the capacity that came complete with Le Mans winning pedigree? 

1948-1958: Porsche 356 Speedster (1954)

But it wasn’t Porsche who spotted the need for something more affordable that would also add some spice to the Porsche proposition, and it wasn’t Porsche that came up with the solution. It was a chap called Max Hoffman (1904-81) who imported Porsches into the US, alongside other brands (he also persuaded Mercedes-Benz to create the 300SL ‘Gullwing’ and inadvertently invented the supercar).

Hoffman convinced Porsche that a stripped out, lightweight, more affordable 356 would not only sell in its own right, but by taking advantage of the burgeoning club racing scene, sprinkle some much needed stardust on Porsche as a whole. The fact a certain James Dean owned and raced one probably helped too.

So the 356 Speedster with its steeply raked and detachable windscreen was born. It was Porsche’s fastest road car to date and the best to drive. But it also looked incredible and Hoffman had to beg Stuttgart to send him more. A flame had been lit, and in cars like the 911 GT3 RS, it burns to this day.

1958-68: Porsche 911S (1966)

It has to be a 911, but which one? The 1963 original, the car that was meant to be called the 901 until Peugeot got shirty and asserted its rights to triple digit car names with a zero in the middle? Or maybe Ferdinand Piëch’s 1967 911R, the first factory-built racing 911, and at 800kg (1760 lb) to date still the lightest 911 ever made and the car that won the 84-hour 1967 Marathon de la Route at the Nürburgring?

Actually I’m going to go for a standard 911S of 1966, the most highly developed road going 911 until they stretched its wheelbase in 1968 in order to try to calm its handling.

1958-68: Porsche 911S (1966)

To me this car holds the very essence of the 911 spirit: small, light, compact and quick, its little 2.0 flat six making a very impressive 160 hp which, combined with ridiculous agility, made it far faster point to point than almost anything on the road, most Ferraris included. Yes, it could be tricky if you didn’t apply the old ‘slow in, fast out’ rule, but I’ve done several races in one and never had a moment’s concern.

What I did have was a ridiculous amount of fun. Everything about it from its hyperactive steering to its one-of-a-kind gearbox is designed to keep you busy, yet you could drive straight off the track and collect the kids from school, and I’m sure plenty did. To me, it’s what a 911 should be all about.

1968-78: Porsche 911 Turbo (1974)

I’m going to get into all sorts of trouble for this choice, first because I didn’t choose the iconic 911 2.7 Carrera RS of 1973 and second because while the early 911 Turbo was a great car, it was not necessarily that good. And you’ll never know how close I came to choosing the 928 (an act of the purest heresy among the rear-engined, air-cooled Porsche-bore aficionados).

I chose the Turbo not because it was the first production car to use this means of forced induction (it wasn’t), nor because it was incredibly quick (Boxers and Countachs were quicker), nor even because I love the looks (though I do) with those dramatically flared arches and that enormous tail spoiler designed to cool the motor as much as keep the rear end on the deck. I chose it because it was born for the purest of reasons – racing – and because unlike the BMW 2002 Turbo that was launched at the same time, Porsche stuck with it and turned it into a gamechanger. Besides, the story of Porsche would not be complete without a tricky 911 in the cast. 

1968-78: Porsche 911 Turbo (1974)

And the early Turbo could be properly tricky. It had enormous turbo lag and so much rear grip it understeered everywhere until you did something desperate with the brakes at which point the back would go in an instant and usually stay gone. It made a worse noise than a 911 and had fewer gears because, said Porsche, it didn’t need five, though the fact that internals needed such strengthening there wasn’t room for five probably had rather more to do with it.

But it contained technology invented for the 1100+ hp Porsche 917/30 and would in time turn into the Le Mans winning 935, one of the maddest racing cars ever made. It also began a now 45 year old tradition of 911 Turbos, one of the finest in the entire Porsche pantheon.

1978-1988:Porsche 959 (1987)

I would argue that the 959 was the first hypercar, a car not just faster than anything else ever to wear a number plate, but whose speed was achieved through technology so sophisticated it made the next best effort look like something cobbled together by Hagar the Horrible. When it came along the fastest Ferraris and Lamborghinis subject to independent testing ran out of puff in the mid-180s mph bracket. The 959 did 197mph.

1978-1988: Porsche 959 (1987)

It might have looked like a melted 911 but only its roof, glass and doors were carried over. The rest was crafted from Kevlar, Nomex and aluminium. Its shape generated no lift, a unique achievement at the time while its engine was derived from a Le Mans winner, with an air-cooled block but water cooled heads and sequential turbocharging. It had a six speed gearbox, double wishbone suspension, ABS, adjustable dampers, four wheel drive with a variable front to rear torque split, bespoke tyres and driver selectable terrain control. Thirty years ago, this was science fiction made fact.

The result was not just a great Porsche, but one of the greatest and most important high performance road cars in history. Within that stunning shape lie lessons that continue to inform the industry to this day.

1988-1998: Porsche 968 ClubSport (1994)

Got to have something with an engine in its nose? Then what better than this? Actually its philosophy was similar to that of the 356 Speedster from 40 years earlier: in short, to save a little money by losing some equipment. The result is not just cheaper, but lighter and better to drive.

1988-1998: Porsche 968 ClubSport (1994)

So good to drive, in fact, that I’ve always suspected the ClubSport (or Clubbie as it was known at Autocar) one of those happy cars that turned out to be even more enjoyable than its creators intended. Few cars have ever been so poorly described by specification sheet alone. And quick though it was, it was never really that quick, nor did it need to be. When I think of it, it is not words like power, grip and pace that come to mind, but ones rather more descriptively enticing like poise, feel and balance.

This was a supremely tactile car with a genius for inspiring love in everyone from novices to professional drivers. It was also the last normally aspirated four cylinder car that Porsche would make.

1998-2008: Porsche Cayenne (2002)

Now this really is sacrilegious. I only have seven Porsches and I go and choose this hideous SUV with no more in common with the svelte grace of the cars on which Porsche built its reputation than do I with Audrey Hepburn. Allow to me to explain myself. I think we can agree the Cayenne was an important car.

It is well known that Porsche was nearly bankrupt in the mid 1990s and while the Boxster and 996-generation 911 steadied the ship, it was the Cayenne that steered it towards the enormous profitability it enjoys today.

1998-2008: Porsche Cayenne (2002)

Soon after it went on sale, it was outselling all other Porsches combined. But even that’s not really why it’s here. I chose it because of all the other wonderful Porsches – the hot 911s, Caymans and Boxsters – that would never have been built without the profit that it and its Macan offspring returned to Stuttgart.

Make no mistake, without this blunderbuss of an offroader, without such a blatant diversion from the comparatively compact, lightweight, simple and sporting path of all previous Porsches, all the compact lightweight, simple and sporting models that followed it would either have been far less good or simply not existed at all. Love a good GT3? You have the Cayenne to thank for it. 

2008-2018: 911 GT3 RS (2010)

I wasn’t going to miss out a GT car but the choice is hard. Many are ruled out on grounds of age, but why not a modern one? I think the 2017 GT2 RS is one of the most incredible devices of any kind I have driven. Or what about the Cayman GT4, perhaps the sweetest natured of all its brethren? But I can choose but one, and the second generation 997 GT3 RS is the one.

2008-2018: 911 GT3 RS (2010)

To me it provides the perfect synthesis of speed, involvement and entertainment, while still being sufficiently quiet and comfortable to fit the original 911 brief of being sufficiently civilised to use every day. It has the loveliest gearbox ever fitted to a 911 and, in its 450bhp flat six motor with its Le Mans winning heritage, a perfect pedigree under the engine cover. It’s a car you just want to drive everywhere and whenever you can. And if all that doesn’t make a great Porsche I have no idea what does.

So that's the road cars - what about the racers?

Porsche 917K (1970)

It took 20 attempts for Porsche to win its first Le Mans, but when it finally cracked it, it was with what some still regard as the finest sports racing car ever designed. And that designer was one Ferdinand Piëch (him again), whose 917 won almost every race it entered in the 1970 and ’71 seasons, including a double at Le Mans.

Porsche 936 (1976)

This is how good Porsche racing cars can be: the 936 won Le Mans in both 1976 and ’77 despite its obsolete spaceframe technology. Then, four years later and faced with nothing competitive to race at Le Mans in 1981, Porsche got the old 936 out of storage, dusted it down, sent it out and it won again.

Porsche 956 (1982)

The 956, along with the 962 that was directly developed from it, was the most successful sports racing car of all time. It won Le Mans six times in a row between 1982 and '87, during which time Porsche built and sold over 100 for customers to race and win in around the world. It then came out of retirement and won again in 1994.

Porsche WSC95 (1997)

When is a Porsche not a Porsche? When it starts life as a Jag. The WSC95 was born in 1991 as a Jaguar XJR-14, it then spent a bit of time as a Mazda before being bought - and powered - by Porsche. Run by the Joest team it won Le Mans in 1996 and then, despite Porsche ordering Joest not to use it again, the same actual car won again in 1997.

Porsche 919 (2014)

The 919 programme was a project of simply staggering proportion, involving the creation of not just a car to compete with the best that Toyota and Audi could muster, but also a brand new team to run it and a brand new factory in which to build it. Three back-to-back wins at Le Mans and the obliteration of the outright Nürburgring lap record will stand forever as testament to its extraordinary talents.

So that's the racers - what about the not-so-good road cars?

Porsche 911T (1966)

The slowest, least powerful and least appealing 911 of all, a cut price special compromised in engine, gearbox and suspension departments and designed to bolster faltering sales in the ‘60s. Why Porsche chose to re-use the name in the 21st century is beyond me.

Porsche 924 (1975)

This was meant to be a Volkswagen sports car but when the oil crisis came VW didn’t want it so the project was handed over to Porsche. Powered by a 2.0 engine from a van, it would need to be turbocharged before even beginning to do justice to the shield on its nose.

911 3.6 Turbo (1992)

Nobody minds a little playfulness in their 911, but this one was an axe-wielding maniac, a car that took normal 911 Turbo lag, turned it up to 11 and then used it to try to throw you off the road. The very definition of far too much of a good thing.

Cayenne S Hybrid (2010)

A V6 from a VW to replace a V8 from a Porsche. Terrible brake feel, jerky step off characteristics, enormous weight and poor feel from its electric power-steering. Eight years ago hybrid technology worked better in theory than practice. Guess you gotta start somewhere.

Panamera 4 E Hybrid (2017)

There are many good reasons to buy one of these, most are financial, the other is that Porsche won’t sell you a diesel version any longer. Just don’t expect it to drive like Porsche. Its engine is too coarse to enjoy in a straight line, its mass too great to be much fun in the corners. An interesting idea, not matched by the reality.