Porsche 911

The Porsche 911 is a 2-door, 2+2 or 2-seat coupé / 2-door 2+2 or 2-seat convertible / 2-door 2+2 targa top / 2-door 2-seat speedster (automobile) / speedster from Porsche, built from 1964, in the decade that gave the world the pony car and the mid-engined supercar. Ferdinand Butzi Porsche (original design) drew it.

The story

The Porsche 911 model series (pronounced Nine Eleven or in German: Neunhundertelf, or colloquially Neunelfer) is a family of two-door, high performance rear-engine sports cars, introduced in September 1964 by Porsche of Stuttgart, Germany, and now in its eighth generation. All 911s have a rear-mounted flat-six engine, and usually 2+2 seating, except for special 2-seater variants. Originally, 911s had air-cooled engines, and torsion bar suspension, but the 911 has been continuously changed and improved across generations. Though the 911 core concept has remained largely unchanged, water-cooled engines were introduced with the 996 series in 1998, and front and rear suspension have been replaced by Porsche-specific MacPherson suspension in the front, and independent multi-link suspension in the rear. The 911 has been raced extensively by private and factory teams, in a variety of classes.

It is among the most successful competition cars. In the mid-1970s, the naturally aspirated 911 Carrera RSR won world championship races including Targa Florio and the 24 Hours of Daytona. The 911-derived 935 turbo also won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1979. Porsche won the World Championship for Makes in 1976, 1977, 1978, and 1979 with 911-derived models. In a 1999 poll to determine the Car of the Century, the 911 ranked fifth — one of two in the top five that had remained continuously in production (the original Beetle remained in production until 2003). The one millionth example was manufactured in May 2017 and is in the company's permanent collection.

Under the skin

The record carries the shape — a 2-door, 2+2 or 2-seat coupé / 2-door 2+2 or 2-seat convertible / 2-door 2+2 targa top / 2-door 2-seat speedster (automobile) / speedster. The engine, output and weight have not yet reached the open record, and MotorJury does not guess at them.

Its place in the line

Its family tree is legible: it took over from the Porsche 356; assembly was at Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Its contemporaries in the catalogue — the Plymouth Barracuda, the Buick Riviera, the Pontiac GTO — show what else the money bought that year. Nearby in the Porsche catalogue sit the Porsche P1 and the Porsche Type 12.

What it costs now

The money question first: $36,800–$134,200 is the typical asking range today, and running it — fuel and maintenance at its age — costs about $4,531–$7,295 a year. Insurance sits around $1,980–$5,080 a year. The figures are class-level estimates from the federal record, with the formula on the methodology page; the model-year pages carry complaints, recalls and repair costs year by year.