Mention the figure 'one million' alongside the Porsche 911 and, in 2017, the natural assumption might be that it relates to a depressingly high asking price for a particularly coveted variant. This time, however, it is not: today it marks the fact that one million 911s have now been made.
One for the bad parking thread
The millionth car is Porsche's homage to the original 911 of 1963, using a 991.2 Carrera S as its base. Therefore it has special order paint (Irish Green), wood trim, houndstooth upholstery and - goodness gracious - a manual gearbox. Remember those? Note as well the gold badges and silver accents. Looks quite good as 'regular' 911s go, but that's just one opinion...
Naturally the occasion is being used by Porsche to mark just why the 911 is so important to its continued success, but some of the stats associated with it really are remarkable: more than 70 per cent of all 911s ever built are said to be ready to drive today, for example. On top of that, more than 15,000 races have been won using 911s. Wonder how many of those have been with a manual gearbox? Porsche is also keen to point out that 32,365 911s were delivered last year; perhaps a less notable stat than the others, but evidence of the car's continued success. It would be interesting to see how many of those are manual too...
This car will be kept at the Porsche Museum, though not before a world tour this year taking in America, China and the Nurburgring. Congratulations then 911, a million up in 54 years and still going strong. Here's to the next half a century!