The Porsche 911 is the German automaker’s icon. It’s the vehicle that’s managed to keep its engine hanging out of the rear axle for more than five decades, and even though Porsche tried to kill it, it’s still here and better than ever.
There have been so many generations of the 911 that it can be confusing to keep everything together. Luckily, this 13-minute video is here to sort everything out.
In the latest installment of Donut Media’s “Everything You Need To Know” series, the YouTube channel tackles the iconic 911. While the majority of enthusiasts know about Ferdinand Porsche and the 356, which was the first vehicle to wear the Porsche badge, the video provides some information that not everyone may know.
For example, the original name for the model was the 901, but Porsche ran into trouble with Peugeot. The French automaker claimed that it had copyrighted all three-digit vehicle numbers with a zero in the middle. Because of this, Porsche dropped the zero and replaced it with one, thus creating the 911.
The history on how the 911 Targa came to life was also pretty interesting. After the original 911 came out and the 912 was released, the automaker decided to take the roof off of the sports car. But the brand ran into a hiccup there too, as the automaker thought the U.S. was going to put stricter safety ratings into play, making convertibles a dead end.
This led to the 911 Targa, which has a detachable roof and a solid upper rollbar for improved protection in the case of an accident that would result in the sports car being flipped over. Ironically, America never put those stricter safety ratings into play, but that didn’t stop Porsche from continuing with its Targa models.
For anyone that’s not familiar with the 911, this 13-minute crash course provides all of the details on the illustrious sports car. And for those that are huge fans of the model, there just might be some new information to be learned.