It’s now seven hours since Wolfgang Porsche’s official statement following the shock resignation of his older cousin, Ferdinand Piëch, as chairman of Volkswagen’s supervisory board. This is what it said:
Stuttgart, 25 April 2015. Dr. Wolfgang Porsche, chairman of the supervisory board of Porsche Automobil Holding SE, Stuttgart, comments [on] today’s developments at Volkswagen AG as follows:
“We have full confidence in the board of management of Volkswagen Group and we deeply regret the developments of the last few days. We thank Ferdinand Piëch for his decades of extraordinary and highly successful service to the Volkswagen Group. Our great loyalty to the Volkswagen Group and its 600,000 employees remains unchanged and we assume our responsibility as a principal shareholder.”
“Professor Dr. Ferdinand K. Piëch has resigned with immediate effect from his position as Chairman of the Supervisory Board and from all his mandates as a Supervisory Board member within the Volkswagen Group,” said the VW statement. “The members of the Executive Committee have unanimously determined that in view of the background of the last weeks the mutual trust necessary for successful cooperation no longer exists.”
Ferdinand Piëch quits Volkswagen
The VW statement seems to suggest that a vote was taken to oust the good Doctor, and that is how most media outlets are playing it, but those in the know say that no vote was held: 78 year-old Ferdinand walked away of his own accord. Piëch’s deputy, union leader Berthold Huber, will run things while a new chairman is elected.
“Ferdinand Piëch has made an enormous contribution to Volkswagen and the entire automobile industry,” said Huber. “The developments of the last two weeks led to a loss of trust between the supervisory board chairman and the other members, which in recent days has proven to be impossible to resolve. The uncertainty had to be ended today. The committee was and is conscious of its responsibility to Volkswagen and its many thousand staff.”
Following decades controlling Audi and VW, no doubt Piëch is also highly conscious of his responsibility to Volkswagen workers and to his own major VW shareholding. His departure clears the way for a seismic shake-up at Volkswagen, which could see current CEO Winterkorn taking the chairman’s job, with Porsche boss Matthias Müller moving up to head the entire VW group. This would throw a spanner in the works at Stuttgart, which has thrived under Müller’s guidance.
Whatever happens with Volkswagen, Piëch’s move marks the end of an era for Porsche, and the end of an era for Porsche fans. While Ferdinand Piëch is certainly “one of the most important people in the history of German business”, as one supervisory board member put it, he is a pivotal figure in Porsche mythology. Porsche without independence retained some credibility with Piëch at the helm. Porsche without Piëch says something else to enthusiasts of a certain age.
Life without Piëch: The Future
Labelling this as the end of Piëch would be clearly ridiculous. The Porsche-Piëch battle goes back to the start: this is simply the latest installment. Is Ferdinand right about Volkswagen’s problems? The Porsche side of the family doesn’t think so, but then it backed Weideking against Ferdinand Piëch. We all know how that ended up: 10 billion euros of debt, criminal charges and 50 million euros to get rid of Wendelin. And Ferdinand’s Volkswagen bailing them out.
Loving the story of the latest early Porsche 911 discovery shared in a thread on the Early S Registry. Current owner Jay bought this 911 as a supposed 70s/80s model more than thirty years ago, but only recently uncovered the car’s true identity.
Originally purchased with steel flares, IROC bumpers and a fibreglass ducktail, the car had a 2.7-litre K-jet engine installed. It came with a roll cage and some suspension changes, so it seemed the 911 had been raced in the past.
After fifteen years sitting in storage, Jay decided to explore the car properly. The now more savvy 911 enthusiast began to notice 1964-specific features including engine bay pressings, door handles and other small details. A factory check of the build numbers revealed the production date: 21st September, 1964.
Porsche 901 Prototype
This 911 carries chassis number 300005: the fifth 901 built in 1964. No earlier chassis number is known to survive, making this chassis a very special find. The big question now is, how to restore it? Parts for 1964 and 1965 SWB 911s are notoriously difficult to find: certainly the most unobtanium Porsche 911 road car parts out there.
The Porsche Museum currently has chassis number 57 in restoration. This is obviously a much later car, plus the level of attention to detail found in past Porsche Classic restorations has been criticised in some corners. It will be interesting to see what happens with this amazing find. No doubt the level of interest in this Porsche 901 early production prototype at auction would be completely unprecedented.
Nice to see this superb Porsche 993 GT2 race car tucked away in the pits at Donington on St Patrick’s Day. Even nicer to see it exit the pits and head out on track, driven by ‘Take That’ vocalist, Howard Donald.
I was at Donington with the former Formula 1 driver, Mike Wilds, and Dave Summers’ Porsche 997 GT2 built to celebrate Mike’s 50th year in motorsport, when I spotted a familiar wheel-rim-meets-front-arch shape peeking out of garage 1. Not too many 993s in the world running BBS Motorsport wheels so I hopped straight on pit wall for a look.
Call me surprised to see the Champion Motorsports-liveried Porsche 993 GT2 EVO parked in the garage, very low key. With some “do not disturb” body language from the mechanics and driver, I kept my distance but enjoyed watching the car do some laps through the day. My type of music is more alternative than modern-day pop charts, so I learned the driver’s identity later on, courtesy of the Donington media chief.
A previous ad for this Porsche for sale tells how it started life as a 993 Turbo S factory race car, running in the IMSA Supercar Championship of the early 1990s. John Wood drove the car in 1992/1993 before it changed hands, selling to Champion Motorsports.
Porsche 993 GT2 Evo history
With the help of Andial, Mike Colucci and Porsche Motorsport North America, the new owners converted the car to GT2 EVO spec, competing in the GT1 category of IMSA’s Exxon Supreme series. Champion brought in some superstar drivers including Hans Stuck, Brian Redman, Derek Bell and Dorsey Schroeder, taking a class win at the 1996 Sebring event before the 993 GT2 was sold into private hands.
I don’t know what engine the car is running now, but Andial built a killer motor for it back in the day: a 962-style flat-fan 3.6-litre running over 700 bhp, depending on mapping. Sounds pretty juicy. This 993 GT2 EVO had cockpit-selectable maps, which wasn’t too common back then. The chassis was apparently pretty lightweight for an IMSA turbo car with the NASCAR-style cage, thanks to carbon & kevlar panels. Power delivery is reported as more predictable than a 934 or 935: not that this would be difficult.
Here’s a short video from Ferdinand Porsche Magazine on Youtube of the Porsche 993 GT2 EVO leaving the pit garage at Donington. Subscribe to our Youtube page for more Porsche videos in the future.
I walked into a Porsche showroom on Monday and found an old friend waiting to greet me. Not unusual to find friends in Porsche showrooms, but surprising to find this 1974 Porsche 911 Carrera tribute for sale, as part of me thought the original owner would never sell it.
I first met this Porsche 911 at Tuthill Porsche in 2008. The owner, Oli Wheeler, had bought a very nice silver E-reg G50 Carrera Coupe base from Chris Harris, and then started talking to Richard Tuthill about building a tribute car. He was besotted with a feature I had written for 911 & Porsche World magazine, entitled “Citrus Carreras”.
The story revolved around my own 1976 Porsche 911 Carrera 3.0 in Continental Orange, versus good mate Nigel Watkins’ Lime Green 1975 Porsche 911 2.7 Carrera, which he had used to win the Curborough Sprint Championship. My car is called Orange, Nigel’s was called Limey: hence all the title stuff etc.
To defend his racing crown, Nigel had put Limey on a bit of diet, fitting carbon fibre bumpers and spending a fortune on an engine rebuild and re-cammed mechanical injection pump, amongst other things. However, when he went to go racing back at Curborough, his composite bumpers put him in the same class as a full-carbon Lotus Elise and the like. The shine went off the 2.7 and he sold it to build a 964 RS (replica) for more sprinting, which he managed to sort quite successfully after first buying a real 964 RS, which he found too hard to go racing in. Oh, the conversations we had about that…
Anyway, Limey had gone in part exchange on the RS to another good guy: the charming Neil Dickens at The Hairpin Company. Neil sold it to one man, then bought it back, then sold it on to someone else. In between all his moving it around, he met me and photographer Matt Howell at Bicester for a day out, where we shot the feature that would captivate Oli Wheeler some time later.
“Oli wants to build one of these cars, but he’s not sure which to go for,” said Richard on the phone in 2008. “He loves your Orange, and loves Lime Green: can you bring yours down for him to look at?” In the end it was not needed: Oli went with Lime Green (Gelb Grün) as the colour for his build, in homage to Limey. Jamie and I later shot Oli’s car at Wardington for another 911&PW feature.
Oli’s car was built to a sensible budget. He’d just sold a Ferrari 430 and had a few quid to spend, which went on things like:
Bare metal respray with some backdate cues: rear bumperette delete etc
Engine fettle with Jenvey throttle bodies, Omex ECU
SSIs and Dansk rear pipe
Tuthill billet brake calipers
Suspension overhaul
Recaro Pole Positions trimmed in leather
I drove it for a day and enjoyed how the Jenvey ITBs had improved the driveability. Seats were just perfect, car rode a treat but I didn’t like the 16″ Fuchs that had been left on the car. It needed 15s. Oli had it for a few years before emailing to say he had traded it for a 996 Turbo plus cash, which surprised me then and still surprises me now.
Whoever had the car after Oli fitted the 15″ Fuchs it deserved in the proper daisy petal finish, and now the 1974 Porsche 911 Carrera tribute is for sale, priced at just under £70k. I’ve not had a close look underneath it, but being around this car still makes me smile.
It was good to swap some emails with freelance graphic designer and classic Porsche artist, Arthur Schening, this week. Arthur sent me some examples of his work that really caught my eye: distinctive and evocative renditions of classic Rennsport racing cars. I knew there had to be a theme at work, so I asked him to elaborate. Arthur’s response struck a familiar chord!
Porsche Art by Arthur Schening
When I was very young, my older brother took me to see Steve McQueen’s movie, Le Mans. At that time, the only racing cars I was aware of were American stock cars. The movie cars were different. They were very cool, and exotic, and the sound they made was fantastic. And the Porsches were the good guys – at least that was the way I saw it – battling against the vile Ferraris to ultimate victory. I have been a Porsche man ever since.
Sometime later, I discovered the Porsche 911. It was not beautiful, nor particularly powerful. It was small and odd looking – a bit like me. But there was something about that shape. It was clean and simple, and it looked purposeful. And it fought heroically against the bigger, prettier Ferraris and Corvettes – another villain in my mind. I grew up to appreciate the aesthetic beauty of the Ferraris, and admire (although never love) the Corvettes. But they are not Porsches.
Being a freelance graphic designer and illustrator is not lucrative. I was born to a middle-class family. I am not wealthy, and I will never be able to afford the cars that I desire. But my occupation does give me the ability to create a likeness of the things that I love. If I wanted a Porsche 906 or 910, I would have to create it for myself.
I started working on this series of historic racing car illustrations in my free time a few years ago, when I was not working on client projects (a benefit of working for myself). I never intended to illustrate more than a few cars that I wanted to hang on my walls at home. But with each illustration I complete, the list of cars that I covet grows. I suppose this project will continue on for a while longer.
Visit Arthur Schening’s Online Gallery
Arthur Schening is a freelance graphic designer and illustrator living in Arlington, Virginia. His work is available to purchase as prints from his website featuring an online gallery of classic endurance racing sports cars. I am quite taken by his style: expect to see more of it on Ferdinand Magazine in the future!
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