A Carrera GT and its 600-horsepower V10. If you look behind there's an interesting display. It has the outlines of every generation of the 911, and an image is projected showing each car as they've grown and "changed."
Leading a pack of race cars is the legendary 550. Amazingly, it only had a 1.5L 110 hp motor, yet because of its light weight and streamlined design, it was regularly a race winner.
This is what that small engine had evolved to by the 1980s. This Type 935/76 flat-6 had two turbos, four valves per cylinder, and water-cooled cylinder heads. It's most notable for powering the "Moby Dick" racer of 1978, and the 956 that came in first, second, and third at Le Mans.
In naturally aspirated form, the air-cooled flat-12 in the 917K was good for almost 600 hp. Displacements ranged from 4.5-5L. Turbocharged, with up to 5.4L displacement, it was good for over 1000 hp and 240 mph (386 kph). In other race series, it produced even more.
If this car looks dirty, it's because it is. It is rarely cleaned to keep traces of the dirt from the Paris-Dakar rally, which it won in 1984. The 959 was an advanced car for its day, with sequential turbos, electronically controlled AWD and more.
A 935 K3. Pretty sure I had a remote-control model of this car as a kid. This one was the overall winner of the '79 24 Hours of Le Mans, one of the few production cars ever to pull that off.
A 356, modified for racing by Heinrich Sauter and Hans Klenk. The body is more aerodynamic, and the engine is a larger 1.5L (1.3 was the standard size for 1951).
550 Spyders were build for racing, driven hard, and usually highly modified. But this one never did and never was, making it likely the most original 550 out there.
The dominant 917s weren't just used at Le Mans. Other teams entered them in races like the Can-Am series. This example was driven by Mark Donohue, winning the 1973 championship. The modified, turbocharged flat-12 put out around 1500 horsepower.
Two late-90's GT1s. On the left, the racing version. It was actually mid-engined, and won 8 of its 36 races, but was on the podium 21 times. The flat-6 was fully water-cooled for the first time. The white car is the "Strassenversion" or "Street version." It had a carbon-fiber body, softer suspension, and a de-tuned engine of "only" 544 hp, down from 600.
The car in the front is a 1967 910 that won its class and came in ninth overall at the 1969 24 Hours of Le Mans.
In the back is a 1964 904, which was Porsche's first fiberglass-bodied car and their first mid-engine hardtop. There were 4-, 6-, and 8-cylinder versions available.
Beneath the museum is the Vault, where dozens of cars are stored. Some await display, others await restoration. You can check out our full tour of the Vault in A tour of the Vault at the Petersen Automotive Museum. What you'll see in the next few slides are the latest Porsche additions. Great cars they didn't have room to display in the main exhibit.
A racing version of Porsche's criminally underappreciated 914. I mean, sure, it looks like a cardboard box someone left in the rain, but they're super fun to drive. This version has a flat-6, most (like mine) had a flat-4.
Discuss: 70 years of the Porsche Effect, from the 356 to the 919
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Discuss: 70 years of the Porsche Effect, from the 356 to the 919
Be respectful, keep it civil and stay on topic. We delete comments that violate our policy, which we encourage you to read. Discussion threads can be closed at any time at our discretion.