Porsche 911 turns 50
We have a quick chat with Porsche to find out what it's doing for the 911's half century
Well, we're probably all a bit flabbier than we were
Our man was a little distracted, it being the eve of the UK Cayman launch and all. But it seems Porsche HQ is pinning the focus of its 50-year celebrations on the Frankfurt motor show in September, it being here in 1963 that it first revealed the 911. Or 901, as it was called at that stage.
In the build-up to Frankfurt there'll be various celebrations, both at the Porsche museum in Stuttgart and various shows and events worldwide, including Goodwood. The Festival Of Speed will be just one of several locations to be visited by a 1967 911 Porsche is sending on a world tour to help publicise the car's 50 years of giving men of a certain age (probably a similar one to the 911, in many cases) the perfect do-it-all sports car, as capable on the track as it is on the daily commute.
So, pedants, is this, as claimed, the first 911?
Other celebrations planned include a parade lap at the Silverstone Classic on July 28 by 911 911s, organised by the Porsche Club GB for, it's hoped, an officially recognised record. Dusting off the big book of lazy journalistic clichés you could say the same could be achieved on any given weekday beneath the banking HQ of your choosing. But this is for 911s on a UK track, not in an underground parking garage in Canary Wharf.
As far as the museum goes there'll be an exhibition of an early model 911 Turbo, 911 GT1, 1981 '911 Cabriolet study' and 'pre series' Type 754 T7 in early March and, from June 4 to September 29, a more extensive exhibition detailing the 911's half century of evolution.
Rear shot shows extent of middle-aged spread
These photos of the 991 next to the original really reveal what a dog's breakfast Porsche has made of the 991. It's a fat, fiddly mess next to the lovely, plain and compact original.
B'dum tssshh!
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