Report & Pics: The Porsche Museum, Stuttgart

bivin · 22nd October 2016, 07:45

What a treat!! Thank you for this lovely thread. That 356 SL looks very unassuming considering its history. I'll let Jay Leno do the talking

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzMWgXgM3EM

ringoism · 23rd October 2016, 20:43

Thanks so much for sharing this - a truly impressive collection and history.

Back in the day I went to look at a red mid-70's 911 Targa fixer-upper that I could've bought pretty cheap... sometimes I wished later that I had. A young man from my church drove a battered 914, the most hated of U.S.-market Porches (everyone said it had "a Volkswagen engine" but not really a bad car, and at any rate, maybe it was the era's Volkswagens (411/412, etc) that had Porsche engines...!). Further on, a former college classmate who suddenly came into money bought a (used) white turbo-bodied 911, and a close buddy bought a second-hand 944 Turbo which I got to drive. He used to get it serviced at the company workshop, who actually sent him a personal Christmas card every year - he quipped that they'd better pander to him at least that much, considering what they charged for servicing.

For all that I was never really interested in the marque... parts cost several times what they would for most other cars and there are engineering flaws in these just as in anything else (I could never get over the engineering "solution" for the early 912/911's tail-heaviness of placing lead weights in the front bumpers; and more recent 911's had a non-lubricated sealed bearing somewhere in the valvegear that has a very high failure rate and nothing but very expensive fixes); but nobody can deny that it's an amazing company founded and taken forward by amazing men who didn't seem to like compromises much and therefore have produced some inspiring machines.

To me the most impressive car shown in the pics might've been the type 360 Cisitalia: An all-wheel-drive lightweight with a 1.5L flat-12 (these would be Hero Splendor-sized pistons) making 382hp??? A mind boggling 300km/h - IN 1946????!!!!! Oh, my.

23rd October 2016, 20:43	#17
ringoism Senior - BHPian Join Date: May 2012 Location: Himachal Posts: 1,034 Thanked: 3,815 Times	Re: Report & Pics: The Porsche Museum, Stuttgart Thanks so much for sharing this - a truly impressive collection and history. Back in the day I went to look at a red mid-70's 911 Targa fixer-upper that I could've bought pretty cheap... sometimes I wished later that I had. A young man from my church drove a battered 914, the most hated of U.S.-market Porches (everyone said it had "a Volkswagen engine" but not really a bad car, and at any rate, maybe it was the era's Volkswagens (411/412, etc) that had Porsche engines...!). Further on, a former college classmate who suddenly came into money bought a (used) white turbo-bodied 911, and a close buddy bought a second-hand 944 Turbo which I got to drive. He used to get it serviced at the company workshop, who actually sent him a personal Christmas card every year - he quipped that they'd better pander to him at least that much, considering what they charged for servicing. For all that I was never really interested in the marque... parts cost several times what they would for most other cars and there are engineering flaws in these just as in anything else (I could never get over the engineering "solution" for the early 912/911's tail-heaviness of placing lead weights in the front bumpers; and more recent 911's had a non-lubricated sealed bearing somewhere in the valvegear that has a very high failure rate and nothing but very expensive fixes); but nobody can deny that it's an amazing company founded and taken forward by amazing men who didn't seem to like compromises much and therefore have produced some inspiring machines. To me the most impressive car shown in the pics might've been the type 360 Cisitalia: An all-wheel-drive lightweight with a 1.5L flat-12 (these would be Hero Splendor-sized pistons) making 382hp??? A mind boggling 300km/h - IN 1946????!!!!! Oh, my.
	() Thanks