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Porsche 911 has been delighting drivers for nearly six decades.
But where did this automotive icon come from?
And what does that three digit name actually mean?
Well, buckle up because there is quite a story behind this legendary Porsche.
And yes, it's pronounced Porsche.
Do you understand how the 911 sprawling model range came to be?
We have to go back in time like way back to the days of Dr. Ferdinand Porsche.
Look at that happy guy.
I bet he was a bucket of chuckles at parties.
Okay, so Porsche the company didn't actually start out building cars hard to believe I know.
Instead, it was more of an engineering consultancy that helped develop different vehicles, everything from the original Volkswagen Beetle to military hardware.
Starting in 1931.
Every Porsche project received an in house number a model designation, if you will.
And this applied to everything from engines and axle designs to transmissions and even tractors.
In June of 1948, the company introduced its first Porsche branded production model, project number 356.
And can you guess what this car ended up being called?
No, it wasn't Cayenne, Dr. Porsche scowls at you.
An iconic little sports machine with a rear mounted engine.
The 356 was agile and sprightly, setting the standard for future Porsches, and it was produced for around a decade and a half more than 77,000 examples in total.
Now the 356's replacement would feature a nice boost in power, courtesy of a fancy new six cylinder engine.
This car, which debuted at the 1963 Frankfurt Motor Show was to be called the 901 and a four pot variant, the 902 except there was a problem, which resulted in yet another fight with the French.
And I don't mean over Alsace-Lorraine, at least, not this time.
Time.
You know Cujo mount it was already using three digit numbers with a zero in the middle to signify its cars.
And if Porsche were to do the same, it would have likely run afoul of French copyright laws.
Unfortunately for the German automaker, various materials had already been printed for the 901 and metal nameplate numbers manufacturer What to do?
Well the solution was easier than a Netflix binge, just like the inventor of a frittata.
They took what they had and ran with it.
They just replaced the 0 with a 1 which conveniently they pretty much already had ready to go because, you know, 1 is the last number in 901.
Problem solved.
And the 911 was born.
After this simple swap, the French were happy.
The Germans were happy, actually, are they ever happy and most importantly, drivers were happy because they got to enjoy an awesome new sports car.
Okay, let's quickly walk through the 9 alpha lineup and cover a few important terms.
Right at the top of this page, we're seeing a lot of Carrera.
What does that mean?
Well, it's actually Spanish for race, [FOREIGN] in German.
And today it's applied to standard 911 models.
Carrera as can be had with all wheel drive, that's what the little Florida nodes and you can get them as a cabriolet too, and that's just a fancy way of saying convertible which probably lets them charge a lot more money.
Next, there's the sporty Carrera S range and they turn up the wick on the standard models three liter twin turbo flat six to deliver 443 horsepower and 390 pound feet of torque.
That's a nice upgrade over non S models which have 379 ponies and 331 pounds.
Moving along there's the target arrange these nine elevens feature a removable roof section for an open air driving experience.
Now and as variant of these cars is offered, though all wheel drive is standard.
Now a word on the GTS models collectively they're sort of like a stepping stone between more work and a 911 tonight Making air quotes there and the range topping turbo family.
They offer an extra shot of sportiness without a huge price increase.
Okay, finally, it is.
Is Turbo time and these cars are the alpha dogs of the 911 family.
That's A-L-P-H-A as in the first letter of the Greek alphabet not A-L-F-A as an Alfa Romeo, which we all know they can oftentimes be dogs Anyway, available in standard coupe and cabriolet body styles.
These nine elevens are legit supercars with standard all wheel drive gigantic brakes that are larger than a pizza and stupid performance.
The 2021 Turbo S models have 640 horsepower and can it's 60 miles per hour in as little as 2.6 seconds.
Top speed is a cool 205.
Speaking of supercars, what exactly are the nine elevens major competitors?
Well, you might consider a. There's the Yeah, I mean basically if you want a 911 you're probably just gonna get a 911 since it is such an icon.
And that just about does it for this video, but I should probably touch on the car's various model designations before wrapping things up.
Now depending on how you count there are around eight generations of 911 though some might argue there are more.
The current model is referred to as the 992 series.
its predecessor was the 991 Then there's the 997 and E46.
Sorry, that's a BMW.
It's actually 996.
And then of course, the air cooled models come before all of that.
Obviously, there are so many other things we could talk about.
About regarding the 911 like limited production models or the different technical evolutions, the car is gone through.
I mean what is PDK?
Wow, it sounds like the topic of another video to me which is convenient because we are fresh out of time here.
Hey, what's your favorite 911?
Let us know in the comments down yonder.
And if you liked what you just watched, check out me hauls video on the Ford F 150.
She breaks it all down just like I did here covering the trucks history, what its name means and a whole lot more Give it a watch.
I think you'll really like it.
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