1963 Porsche 911

One of the longest-lived designs in automotive history, the Porsche 911 has been produced for forty years, evolving from a 2-liter coupe with 150 hp running on narrow 165-15 tyres to 3.6-liter turbocharged machines capable of supercar performance, along the way giving birth to the 935 variants that won the Le Mans 24 Hours outright. The basic lines of the 911, drawn by Ferdinand ‘Butzi’ Porsche in the mid-1950s, were faithfully preserved through several chassis iterations.

Often cited as “a triumph of development over bad design”, the Porsche 911 is magnificent today, but in the beginning it was so disappointing that chief engineer on the project, Dr Tomala had been fired by the Porsche. Over the years the engine was moved forward, the wheelbase was increased, the basic suspension system was, four-wheel drive was added for some models and width increased, yet the basic lines, particularly the side-window profiles, have persisted unchanged.

Part of the charm of the car is its relatively small size: the cozy cockpit and the visual allure of the rounded front wings as seen from the driver’s seat. Slated for oblivion more than twenty years ago, the 911 shape will continue into the foreseeable future.

These extracts are taken from Auto Legends: Classics of Style and Design by Michel Zumbrunn, text by Robert Cumberford which was published in October by Merrell