Porsche AG has officially opened its stunning new Pavilion in the Autostadt at Wolfsburg. The Pavilion will house twenty-five Porsches, taking visitors through Stuttgart’s heritage, and showcasing the current product range.
The Autostadt lies alongside the Volkswagen factory in Wolfsburg, Germany. Attracting more than two million visitors a year, it’s one of the city’s top tourist draws.
Autostadt’s seed was sown in 1994, when VW exhibited their production methodology at Hanover’s Expo 2000. Strong interest inspired Volkswagen to start on a permanent experience centre four years later, adjacent to the Wolfsburg plant. After two more years and an estimated €435 million, the main building opened for business.
Today’s opening ceremony drew all the big names from Porsche AG, VW and the Porsche family, including Prof. Dr. Ferdinand Piech and Dr. Wolfgang Porsche. Inspired by the roofline of the Porsche 911, the new Pavilion looks a worthwhile addition to Porsche’s portfolio of engaging architecture.
“With its extraordinary design, this building is one of a kind…possessing a symbolic and historic dimension that evokes the common ties that have closely bound Porsche and Volkswagen and will continue to do so in future,” said Matthias Müller, President and Chief Executive of Porsche AG.
The recent announcement that Porsche would skip a €1.5 billion tax bill on the close of its Volkswagen buyout must have made this event even sweeter. More of that tax dodge anon. Err, not tax dodge, I mean financial astuteness.
A few years ago, 911 & Porsche World magazine had the idea of Ultimate Porsche. Each editorial contributor would bring their Ultimate Porsche to Bruntingthorpe, for compare and contrast, and a verdict.
For me, the ultimate Porsche is the 917: no contest. 917, then 908, then the choice gets controversial: I thought maybe latest 911 Turbo. The first two made Porsche the über-brand of the 1970s: a halo it still wears now, though it hasn’t put anything like that level of personal, authentic effort in for many years. Nor can it have, as the men behind 917 and 908 were Porsche, and the family was out of management in 1972.
Not thinking of third position, I went on a hunt for a 917. I only knew of two: one was David Piper’s car (below), which Porsche World had featured in a joint thing with Octane, someone had blown up David’s gearbox on the shoot, there was a big fall-out over the pics and I would not ask the great DP to take part in a repeat fiasco. The only other English 917 I knew had just come back from Classic Le Mans. The 917 and same-stable 908 had raced hard (despite the wrong gearing in the 908) and both were apart for a post-race refresh.
So no 917.
Two cars were in my garage: my Continental Orange Carrera 3.0 Coupe, and a friend’s 964 RS (he’d asked me to sell it). I didn’t want to use my car – ‘ultimate Porsche is the one you own’ was not the way I saw it. The 964 RS had very little history but was the real thing, had been used by Walter Röhrl for Bilstein damper development and was much cheaper than what else was out there, but not one virtual tyrekicker came to see it.
I took the 964 RS to Bruntingthorpe and it made my day. The RS resolved my belief that this was the ultimate air-cooled 911, and was the journos’ road car choice on the day.
Someone brought a 997 Turbo. The latest, greatest 911 was fabulous to drive but a price tag to match, depreciation like any other and hardly maintenance-free. One day, it would be yesterday’s news. The 964 RS was up for less than £40K so was well priced and drove the best of everything there. It was only getting dearer. You could take it ten miles down the road and come back with 100 on the clock. It really was addictive. Not the one that would win Top Trumps, just my favourite.
Eventually, the owner tired of silly offers on the car and it left my care. Another friend’s 964 RS is now for sale for almost twice that price. Way beyond what I can afford but, If you’ve got the money they are worth the effort: runner-up to a 908 and 917 is a hell of a place to be.
I need this in my life. It’s a Porsche 917 Laser kit car, currently for sale on Los Angeles Craigslist.
Not sure I agree about ownership, but it is an intriguing piece of Porsche-derived kitsch. This one looks pretty straight, with the right wheels, apparently good fit and finish and an engine that’s clearly had some money spent. Plus that silver metalflake. The owner says:
The body is all original and free of cracks or damage,original paint. Interior has new carpet, newly upholstered seats and new racing harness. Italian suede quick release steering wheel. It has a custom tubular subframe that makes the car very solid.
Besides the fiberglass shell everything is new. New suspension with KYB shocks, bigger torsion bars, new bushings, new axles and control arms.
The engine is a 2 liter turbocharged VW flat 4 producing close to 300hp. Garrett turbo charger. It has 2 dual barrel weber carbs, new fuel pump, starter, alternator. Engine has 60 miles on it, everything is new, from mahle pistons to heads and empi valve covers. Custom headers, new oil cooler with electrical fan etc.
The transmission is a brand new 4 speed heavy duty unit with a new stage 3 hydraulic clutch and lightened flywheel. New brakes, new rotors, brakemaster cylinder. Wheels professionally powder coated flat black, brand new Mickey Thompson high performance tires.
This car was built to perform. Well over 20k was spent to create the car. Fully street legal with all the lights and horn working properly. Car runs and drives perfect its a blast to drive. Asking 16500$ for this truly unique car.
If you wanted to have a bit of fun, this could be the thing. Just as traffic light folks start pointing jolly fingers, you drop the clutch and obliterate them. Only downside for some people might be getting out of it in public. It’s not entirely Cult of Porsche – a beach buggy version would definitely be – but what a perfect car for a Friday blog.
There’s some great video on Youtube that’s perfect for office lunchbreaks. I know many work servers block the Youtube domain in a browser address bar, so hopefully you’ll be able to watch it as embedded on here, or maybe watch it on your iPhone. My blogs all have an iPhone-friendly mobile theme that should works well on every mobile device.
The 2012 Le Mans 24-Hour race is less than a month away (16-17 June). There will of course be Porsches racing, but let’s look back 31 years, to the 1981 Le Mans as seen in this entertaining, if slightly over-narrated video.
For 1981, four-time Le Mans winner, Jacky Ickx, came out of retirement to drive the 936 with Derek Bell (follow DB on Twitter here). Fitted with the new 2650cc endurance engine derived from Porsche’s Indianapolis design, chassis number 003 used the same air- and water-cooled 930-derived motor as its predecessors, with two turbos. The slippery 936 could hit 225 miles per hour, giving it proper speed.
In the race, number 11 took the lead from the start and won with a 14-lap advantage. Considering its pole lap was just under three and a half minutes long, that’s almost an hour ahead of the rest (okay, that’s man maths but let’s round the numbers up). The race ran for just short of 5,000 kilometres.
Also in the field was the 924 Carrera of the Almeras brothers, and Jurgen Barth/Walter Röhrl in the 944 LM. Some fascinating Porsches racing that year!
Don’t forget to follow Ferdinand Magazine to keep up with old and new Porsche news. I am now splitting stories between both sites, so not all Ferdinand stuff will be shared here and some of it will certainly be of interest to Classic Porsche Blog fans.
Ferdinand blogs my freelance adventure with Porsche at the centre. To support the blog or engage with me in other ways, you can:
This Bill Gates Porsche 911 Turbo story has been doing the Internet rounds for a couple of days, but some of you may not have seen it. It is definitely worth following!
Bill Gates’ 1979 930 is for sale on an Austrian auction site. The car has apparently covered 89,000 miles, but was restored in 2011, with fresh paint and an engine rebuild paid for by the current owner, a year after it was imported to Austria.
As a ’79, it is of course a 3.3-litre, with the 4-speed transmission. Though it seems in good shape, any prospective buyers would be well advised to have a closer inspection. Early 930s can need more than engine rebuilds at this stage and it did live in Seattle: rain capital of the USA.
One thing you can be sure of is a decent history: Bill is not short of a bob or too. With the best 930s now being offered (perhaps slightly optimistically) at close to £50k in the UK – a LHD car should be expected to fetch more. Add in the kudos of Bill’s original Bill of Sale and who knows what it might fetch.
I’ve driven plenty of 4-speed 930s in the UK, Europe and the USA. Even in the best condition, they can be difficult to get excited about on a twisty mountain road. I don’t think that this car would be worth fortunes to me, but then I’ve been a fan of the 3-litre normally aspirated 911s and a Steve Jobs/Apple Mac user for many years!
What do you think it will sell for? Add your views in the comments. This story came in from Matthew (thanks Matt): email me with other interesting stuff you might see. We are always looking for interesting feature cars. Follow Ferdinand to keep in touch with all the Porsche stories we share online.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.AcceptRead More
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
