By mid 1977, the 911 had been around for 13 years and Porsche did not expect to be building it for much longer. Instead, the company (which had been under the direction of Ernst Fuhrmann since…
Read MoreThe 2.7-litre Carrera RS introduced for model year 1973 was Porsche’s first 911-based homologation special and spawned a series of dominant racing variants that annihilated the opposition. Less…
Read MoreWhen Porsche created the hardcore 911 2.7 Carrera RS for the 1973 model year, many of the company’s senior managers were not convinced it would be easy to sell the 500 cars needed to…
Read MoreSince the late 1950s, Porsche had primarily focused its factory motor sport programmes on Sports and Prototype racing cars. During this period there had been the odd works foray with enhanced…
Read MoreFollowing the premature death of his father in 1974, 24 year old Alois Ruf took the reins of his family’s garage in Pfaffenhausen, Bavaria. Alois Ruf Snr. had founded Auto Ruf back in 1939. Initially the…
Read MoreHaving been appointed Porsche chairman in August 1972, Dr Ernst Fuhrmann immediately decided the 917 programme had become excessively expensive and too detached from the firm’s road car…
Read MoreAlthough the second generation 911 was launched just a few weeks before the onset of a global energy crisis, Porsche’s heavily revised model enabled the firm to weather the economic storm…
Read MoreHaving been appointed Porsche Chairman in August 1972, Dr Ernst Fuhrmann quickly decided the company’s racing programme should focus more on the 911 as opposed to purpose-built sports…
Read MorePorsche’s decision to replace the four cylinder 356 with the more expensive six cylinder 911 proved a great success; in the 911’s first nine years of production, nearly 83,000 were sold compared to 78,000…
Read MoreThe turbocharged 930 produced from early 1975 was Porsche’s flagship 911 and arguably the most capable supercar of its time. Performance-wise, the 930 was on a par with anything Ferrari and…
Read MoreWhen Porsche introduced the 2.2-litre 911 in September 1969, many felt the model had reached the limit of its potential. Rumours swirled that an entirely new replacement was on the cards; a big…
Read MorePorsche’s first 21 years as an auto manufacturer had seen the firm grow at an exponential rate. From the trickle of hand-built Volkswagen-based 356s that emerged out of a cramped converted sawmill…
Read MoreIn early February 1974, Porsche announced they had discontinued their Group 7 racing programme with the 917. Cost had a part to play, but the new company Chairman, Ernst Fuhrmann, also held a…
Read MoreBB was established in 1973 and initially based at an ex-BMW workshop in Frankfurt. The firm’s custom body, paint, engine and interior programmes saw BB quickly establish itself as the premier…
Read MoreAs the Porsche 911’s rivals were mostly larger-engined models, by the early 1970s it was obvious that more power would have to be extracted from the air-cooled Flat-6 engine if it was to remain…
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