The Porsche 911: the car dreams are made of
The name Porsche is one any car enthusiast will recognize immediately, especially those who love luxury and speed. For nearly 50 years, Porsche has been a leader in innovation, both in design and performance. From the time Ferdinand Porsche released his first model, the 356, on June 8, 1948 to the newly released Carrera GT, Porsche's have come equipped with every feature imaginable and the kind of horsepower most people only dream of.
The most famous of all models is, by far, the 911. The car was first known as the 'Porsche 901' at the 1963 Internationale Automobil-Ausstellung. Because of a legal dispute by Peugeot, claiming they owned the rights to all car model names that were three letters, the name was changed to 911. It had a 130 PS1 (96 kW) six-cylinder engine, air-cooled and rear-mounted, displaced 1991 cc. In 1966 Porsche introduced the more powerful 911S, with the engine's power upgraded to 160 PS (118 kW). In 1967 the Targa was introduced. The Targa had a removable roof panel, a removable plastic rear window, and a stainless steel-clad roll bar.
The power of the engine continued to steadily increase until the introduction of the first turbo charged 911 in 1975. Although called simply Porsche 911 Turbo in Europe, it was marketed as Porsche 930 (930 being its internal type number) in North America. The body shape is distinctive, fluid and powerful, and it started out with a 3.0-liter engine (260 PS or 191 kW), it rose to 3.3 liters (300 PS or 221 kW) for the 1978 model year. As the demand for these cars started to rise in the 80s, they began marketing 911s with slight visual differences, but hardly any mechanical change. Porsche continued to add more power and perfected the look with several other models including the 911 SC ("Super Carrera,") the MK1, Turbo, MK1 Turbo, and the further progression of those models until they are what we have today. The 2007 Porsche 911 Carrera has a 6 cylinder 3.6 liters, 365 horsepower, a top track speed of 177 mph and 0-60 in 4.8 seconds.
It may not be the fastest car, but the look is distinctive and unmistakable, and the features are equal to that of the best luxury cars. It comes standard with heated outside mirrors, intermittent wipers with rain sensors, an onboard computer, an alarm system with interior radar surveillance, and a whole list of other features. The only thing it doesn’t do is drive itself. Another nice feature is that Porsche 911 is one of the very few high performance cars that have four seats. When Butzi Porsche designed the first 911 over 40 years ago, one of his goals was to have a car with quality levels of performance and comfort that a family could enjoy together.
The Porsche 911 will always continue to be one of the most luxurious and fastest cars on the market. The 911 still continues to be revised and perfected upon and just better and better as time goes by, and nobody can top Porsche when it comes to innovation.
