History of the Porsche 911

It’s been many things during the past 61-plus years: European Grand Tourer, Miami Beach Sun Machine, all-out race car, perfectly preserved resident of art museums and stately homes alike. Some of you remember it from the opening scenes of Le Mans, others from that moment in Flashdance where Jennifer Beals pulls the passenger door handle and runs down the 2^nd Street tunnel. You could get it with 130 horsepower, or 700. 2300 pounds, or 3700. Millions of other choices in between, not a single nut or bolt has stayed the same from its debut in 1963 to the present day.

Yet the Porsche 911 has always been instantly recognizable, immediately understood by everyone who sees it. Credit the “911 Forever” philosophy that saved Porsche from disaster in the 80s and ensured that an unrelenting pace of technical innovation would always be tempered by a thoughtful approach to styling and specification. We’ve put together a short history of the 911, with attention to the most significant highlights. However, there are many more.

1964: 901 Becomes 911

As speeds on the Autobahn and among amateur racers increased, Ferry Porsche, son of Ferdinand Porsche and the driving force behind the company bearing their name, knew that a six-cylinder car would be necessary to keep pace with the market. The resulting car was larger, faster, and more sophisticated than its Type 356 predecessor. Developed as the “Porsche 901”, it was re-badged to 911 at the insistence of Peugeot, which had a potential trademark claim on the 901 name.

The price was far higher than Porsche had intended, and beyond what many existing clients could afford, so the four-cylinder engine from the 356 was made available in a last-minute entry-level model. That car, badged “Porsche 912”, would outsell the 911 in many markets – but it lacked the characterful, smooth power that would come to be a defining element of Porsche road cars.

Almost immediately, the 911 had success in both road racing and rally competition. In the early years of production, the engine was bored and stroked from the original 1991cc up to 2341cc while refinement and modifications were made to the suspension. The Porsches made during this era are delightful but challenging to drive; light weight and narrow tires make for a unique and thrilling experience.

1973: Enter the Carrera RS

Adding considerable power, race-derived suspension, wider wheels, and special bodywork made the 1973 Carrera RS a viable contender both in motorsports and in the showroom. Along the way, its unique graphic scheme of a white body and contrasting “Carrera” door graphic, often in blue, became globally famous. There was no denying the Carrera’s speed, especially in the more flexible and better-handling variants that immediately followed – but Porsche had higher ambitions than merely ruling smallbore GT racing, and they would shortly be realized.

1975: It’s Just “the Turbo”

Porsche wasn’t the first company to turbocharge a road-legal car, but the combination of the 911’s established prestige and the insistent push of a 260-horsepower, three-liter turbocharged flat six made “the Turbo” the only pressurized car that really mattered. Some credit should go as well to whatever genius at Porsche changed the early “Turbo Carrera” badging to a simple lowercase “turbo” on the rear decklid, beneath the famous “whale tail” that accompanied 1978’s increase in both displacement (to 3.3 liters) and power.

This exceptionally fast and capable car was not without its faults. There was a discernible “lag” between opening the throttle and the arrival of power, thanks to the time required for the turbo system to build pressure. And the chassis was intolerant of any attempt to decrease throttle and turn at the same time. Put these together and you got a car that would seem to dawdle before firing its occupants towards the next turn at a speed for which they were unprepared. Rather quickly, it was nicknamed “the widowmaker”. Did this reputation discourage buyers? Quite the opposite.

1984: 911 Forever

Twenty years after the 901-prototype debuted, Porsche’s new leadership affirmed that the 911 would not be replaced by its modern 928 and 924. Instead, the 911 got a comprehensive round of updates and upgrades. These cars, known as “Carrera 3.2” or (somewhat incorrectly) “G-body Carrera”, set new sales records in America. The new availability of a convertible didn’t hurt matters.

1990: New Beneath the Skin

If the 911 Turbo had made Ferrari and Lamborghini a bit nervous a decade prior, Porsche was no less pressured in the 90s by lower-priced contenders from Nissan, Toyota, BMW, Corvette, and even Mitsubishi that offered similar or better performance at a fraction of the cost. The solution: reimagine the 911 with four-wheel-drive, an automatic transmission, and major improvements everywhere you looked. The revised car, internally designed 964, received critical acclaim but failed to improve sales. A further revision in 1995, with engineering code 993, was the last and best version of the original air-cooled Porsche 911. It’s highly sought-after today, but at the time it still didn’t cut the mustard. Porsche had to make a major change.

1999: Fried Eggs and Controversy

The new car, designated 996 but still sold as the “Porsche 911”, was a complete re-imagination of the 911 idea. It was bigger and more spacious but weighed a bit less. More power was available from a 3.4-liter version of the M96 water-cooled engine – a first for the 911, lighter and more compact than the air-cooled original. The Turbo model that followed soon after would set new standards in over-the-road performance. By any standard you could imagine, it was a world-class product that bettered its predecessor in every way.

Not everyone felt that way, however. The “fried-egg” headlamps and generic-looking nose were shared with the low-priced Boxster two-seater, which displeased some customers. (To placate them, Porsche changed the headlamp design on the debut of the Turbo, then fitted those revised lamps on standard cars from 2002 onwards.) Much of the original 911’s obvious mechanical perfection was missing, replaced by lackluster plastics and unfortunate interior styling. The reaction of Porsche faithful to the new 911 would go on to spur a whole “aircooled” movement that persists today in a variety of shows and events limited to pre-1999 cars.

This generation of 911, together with the Boxster, is commonly credited with saving the company and putting it in a position to thrive in the new century. Today, it’s also a gateway to 911 ownership for new members of the Porsche family, thanks to its combination of brisk performance and reasonable value.

2005: Back to the Future

A major revision for the 2005 model year offered slanted oval headlights that recalled the round lamps of the original 911 and matched it with a spiffy new interior. A new M97 engine bumped available displacement to 3.8 liters for the Carrera S model. New Turbo and GT3 models would follow; there had been a GT3 in the previous generation, but it hadn’t captured the public’s interest the way the 2007 version did.

Known as “997” internally, this revamped vehicle received a “997.2” upgrade in 2008 (model year 2009 in the United States) that included the 9A1 direct-injection engines and the Porsche Doppelkupplung (PDK) transmission. Roughly translating to “Porsche Dual Clutch”, this performance-oriented automatic transmission replaced the conventional torque-converter Tiptronic.  Considered by many to be the most attractive and pleasant to drive of water-cooled 911 models, values of the 997.2 have remained strong to the present day.

2012: The 911 Goes Wide-Body

The third all-new 911 in company history made quite an impression on its debut. To begin with, it was bigger than ever before, particularly on the inside. The intimacy of the original 911, where it was possible for driver and passenger to rub shoulders while sitting bolt upright, was replaced with a more reclined seating position and a massive center console splitting a wider cabin. It was surprisingly reminiscent of the front-engine 928, in fact.

Advanced materials and engineering kept this new car, designated “991”, in the same weight range as its predecessor, but power went way up across the board. Surely it was the most versatile 911 ever, feeling about as happy in fire-breathing GT2RS form as it was when configured as an automatic-transmission convertible with all-wheel-drive.

One major change that escaped many customers: With the mid-cycle upgrades, dubbed “991.2”, Porsche started supplying turbocharged engines across the entire line. Not every 911 was called a Turbo, that was reserved for the high-power version, but with the exception of the GT3 model, which all had turbochargers. For most buyers, this was a good thing, as the revised engines had a wider powerband, leading to more speed with less effort.

To its credit, the 991 still looks much like an original 911, especially if you haven’t seen an original 911 in a while; somehow it captures the visual highlights of its ancestors while casting a substantially different shadow. The GT3 variants of the 991 have spawned a massive trackday and show-car culture both online and in real life.

2019: Into the Future

With the “992” generation car, Porsche refined the technology and power of the 991 without drastically changing the underpinnings. There are more LCD screens, more options to be had, more “digital connectivity”. Some attention was paid to improving handling, and power was bumped slightly. The changes are evolutionary, not revolutionary – and this is likely because the next-generation car will have substantial powertrain revisions that may include hybrid and electric options. A “Dakar” variant offers off-road suspension and wheels for a bit of high-riding and winter fun; it’s been very popular with existing Porsche owners, who like having a Dakar next to their road-oriented 911s.

All the Ones That Didn’t Fit

The history of the 911 is more than just the production cars. It’s the competition variants, many of which shared very little with their everyday siblings and in some cases were deliberately built to exploit “holes” in racing rule books. It’s the 959 supercar, which put all-wheel-drive and massive power into the 911 bodyshell to knock on the door of 200 miles per hour. It’s the outrageous custom cars from tuners like DP, Gemballa, Andial, Strosek, and others, some of which operated with active assistance and encouragement from the factory behind the scenes. There’s a 911 for almost everyone, whether you want to race vintage events, or clear the left lane of the Autobahn. Few cars have stayed so true to their original mission, yet certainly no other sports car has been available in quite so many forms. From its September 1963 public debut to the current day, the Porsche 911 has had an active hold on our imaginations. And the story doesn’t look like it’s going to end any time soon.