It seems hard to believe, but Porsche has just built its millionth 911. You read that right: one million Porsche 911 models have been built since the model’s introduction in 1963. Funny to think that Porsche very nearly killed the model off.

In a pleasant coincidence for all other paddies who follow Porsche history, the millionth 911 was a 991 Carrera S Coupe, finished in Irish Green.  Stuttgart says that production model 1,000,000 had a number of Exclusive additions but doesn’t give any more details. I can pick out a few bits from the pics but we’ll all have a poke when we catch it on its world tour. Great to see that it’s nothing too flashy – some things at Porsche never change.

“Fifty-four years ago, I was able to take my first trips over the Grossglockner High Alpine Road with my father,” said Dr. Wolfgang Porsche. “The feeling of being in a 911 is just as enjoyable now as it was then. That’s because the 911 has ensured that the core values of our brand are as visionary today as they were in the first Porsche 356 from 1948.”

“Porsche has never strayed from the founding concept of the original 911,” says its CEO, Oliver Blume. “But we have continued to enhance the technology of the 911, refining and perfecting the sports car. That’s why it remains a state-of-the-art and technically innovative vehicle. We have also been able to expand the model line very successfully through derivates.”

It may not be Stuttgart’s biggest seller but no doubt it is the most strategically important. The much-adored sports car showers a glittering halo of heritage and established performance attributes across all Porsche models, including the trucks.

All two-door Porsche sports cars nowadays come off the same Zuffenhaus production line which once rolled out 911s only, but ask anyone to name a Porsche sports car and most will say 911. It is still the model closest to the hearts of enthusiasts, and now there have been a million of them.

Ironic to think that Stuttgart almost killed it off. We all like off-the-wall thinking but sometimes you just have to go with the voice of the majority. If saving the 911 is all Peter Schutz is ever remembered for – and no doubt it was Peter who saved it – that is a prodigious, magnificent legacy.