While it’s normally a stretch to call a Porsche a people’s car, company founder Ferdinand Porsche (1875-1951) developed the original Volkswagen Beetle.
orsche has never dabbled in commercial vans, so it sourced its race support vehicles from other manufacturers.
In 1955 the newly-born West German Army asked auto manufacturers to submit a proposal for a low-cost, efficient four-wheel-drive vehicle in the vein of the Willys Jeep.
The marketing team in Stuttgart turned to the phrase “what wins on Sunday sells on Monday” to promote the then-new 924.
The 935 was an evolution of the 911 developed for endurance racing. Its turbocharged, fuel-injected flat-six engine could reliably make over 700 hp.
Based on the 928, the 995 could be equipped with a 3.0-liter V8 engine fitted with a cylinder deactivation system or a 2.2-liter four-cylinder engine.
This early 959 prototype was extensively tested in a wind tunnel in 1982, a year before the model left enthusiasts speechless at the Frankfurt motor show.
The 959 was first seen as a concept at Frankfurt. A radical evolution of the 911, the concept previewed an immensely powerful halo car designed to comply with the FIA’s Group B regulations.
The 924 filled the gap left by the 914 on the bottom rung of the Porsche lineup, but the Stuttgart-based brand didn’t build another mid-engined model until it introduced the Boxster in 1996.