Porsche 911: 52 years of staying true to its roots

The Porsche 911 is a testament to perseverance. Even back in 1963, it was clear that putting the engine behind a car's rear axle entailed compromises over front- or even mid-engined cars—clear to everyone outside of Porsche's Stuttgart base, that is. That was the year the company unveiled its 901 at the Frankfurt auto show. (The name was changed to "911" after Peugeot asserted that its trademark extended to any three-digit number with a 0 in the middle.) The first Porsche 911 went on sale in 1964, and the car has been a cornerstone of the marque ever since. During those 51 years, Porsche engineers have mitigated the problems associated with a rear-engined layout, developing the 911 into one of motoring's greatest living legends.

1964-1968

Rear-engined cars had become a bit of a Porsche family trademark by this point, including the Volkswagen Beetle and Porsche 356. The Porsche 911 of 1964 followed suit. It would be Porsche's largest and most expensive sports car to date, with four seats and a 2l engine. The car's styling was thanks to "Butzi" Porsche, grandson of company founder Ferdinand Porsche (who created the Beetle). Another grandson, Ferdinand Piech, was the engineer responsible for developing the car's new engine: a six-cylinder boxer (two rows of three cylinders, 180 degrees opposed from each other), air-cooled and with overhead camshafts.

OK, the rear seats were (and still are) tiny, so it's more of a 2+2 than a real four-seater. But even the earliest 911s were that marvellous blend of engaging sports car and practical transport. The 128hp (96kW) engine revved to 6800rpm, which was a lot for 1964. With not much weight to move around (~2360lbs/1070kg) it was fast for its time. Early road tests put the 0-60mph time between seven and nine seconds, with a top speed around 130mph (209km/h). By 1966 there were several versions on sale: the regular 911, a more powerful 911S (158hp/118kW), a Targa with a removable roof section, and a more affordable 4-cylinder version called the 912.

Legendary motoring writer Denis Jenkinson summed up the early 911 well that year: "Its first-class stability, hard-working engine, perfect gearbox, accurate steering, high cornering propensities, and one-piece feel make it a real GT car, a car that is intended for hard motoring. The harder you drive the more it seems to come alive, and you can almost hear it chuckling to itself as you really begin to use it the way Dr. Porsche meant it to be used."

Jenkinson also went on to say it was an incredibly safe car. "if you make a mistake while driving it fast, it will stay with you and help you to sort things out"—which probably came as news to everyone who went into a corner too fast, lifted the throttle, and then went backwards through a hedge. It's a matter of physics, you see. It has a high moment of inertia, and unsettling the car's weight balance (by lifting or braking in a corner, which transfers weight to the front axle) means the rear tyres lose grip. Instead of following the direction the driver wants, the back end just wants to complete transcribing the arc it was on.

That's not to give the impression that the 911's rear-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout was worthless. After all, Porsche are still sticking the engine in the back, 51 years later. More weight at the back meant more traction for the rear wheels than a front-engined car, and there were packaging advantages, particularly with an air-cooled engine that needed no radiators. 911 drivers quickly found the car benefited from a particular driving style: turning in early and accelerating even before a corner's apex, trusting the rearward weight bias to good effect.

1968-1973

In 1968, Porsche lengthened the wheelbase of the 911 in a bid to tame some of the car's worst handling traits. The 911 was in fact quite comprehensively revised, although you'd be hard pressed to tell just by looking at one from the outside. Many of the updates were thanks to the company's experience racing 911s on track and in rallies, where it proved itself to be an able competitor. In addition to the longer wheelbase, the engines in the 911E (the standard car) and 911S both now featured Bosch fuel injection (the cheaper 911T model, which replaced the 912, kept carburettors). Engine capacity went up to 2.2 litres, and other changes enabled by moving to fuel injection also meant the new engines were more powerful than before, now redlining at 7200rpm.

The new 911 (the C-series) had revised suspension (new struts at the front and longer trailing arms at the rear in particular) and more mod cons in the cabin, including better ventilation and the option of air conditioning. An automatic gearbox was also available in the Sportomatic. Contemporary road tests show that the changes made the car faster (0-60mph between 6.5 and 8.4 seconds) with no significant weight gain over the earlier version.

Racing driver and race engineer Mark Donohue drove the revised car for Car and Driver magazine: "There's no doubt that Porsche has a very successful grand touring car and the design philosophy is terrific. Just the rear engine alone lends to building a better car... you have a low center of gravity, good visibility, a minimum of mechanical losses through the drivetrain and, being air-cooled and light, the combination results in an impressive vehicle."

The long wheelbase 911 was updated a few more times, notably in 1971 when the engines were increased in size from 2.2L to 2.4L. The bigger engine also came with a new five-speed gearbox. The most iconic 911 of this era—and perhaps any, if current values are any gauge—was 1973's Carrera RS. This was a homologation model, where a certain number of road cars had to be built to allow Porsche to use certain parts on the race track. The RS had a bigger engine (2.7L, 210hp/150kW) and was instantly recognisable by its duck-tail rear spoiler. Wider tyres, bigger brakes, a lightweight interior, and uprated suspension all contributed to making the RS a very special road car for its time.

Racing has always been central to Porsche, with the company using its racing program to improve the road cars. The 911 was no exception to this. The early 911 and 911S proved quite capable as race and rally cars, but the first true factory racer was the 911R in 1967. This used lots of lightweight materials where possible (plexiglass windows, panels made of aluminium or fibreglass, and so on).

Next was the 1973 Carrera RSR, based on the Carrera RS homologation special. At least 500 Carrera RSs had to be sold for the car to be legal on the track, although it was actually so in demand that Porsche built more than 1000 of them. The RSR was even more special than the RS, with a larger 2.8L engine that made 300hp (223kW) at a heady 8000rpm, and in 1975 a 3-litre engine appeared.