History of Four-door Porsche Began Way Before Panamera Came Along
A series of one-off four-door Porsche concepts were built decades before the Panamera finally made it to production.
When Porsche first announced that it was planning on building the Panamera, the mere thought of a four-door Porsche caused quite the uproar among enthusiasts. Today, it’s just part of a non-traditional lineup for the sports car maker that includes a whole slew of SUVs and crossovers. But the Panamera wasn’t the first four-door Porsche, of course, as this idea stretches all the way back to 1968 with an obscure one-off 911 built by Troutman & Barnes, a custom car shop in Culver City, California.
The story of this strange vehicle was originally told in the March 1968 issue of Road & Track, and it’s quite interesting to reflect on today. It all started when William J. Dick Jr., co-owner of a Texas-based Porsche distributor, had been asking the automaker repeatedly to build him a four-door Porsche. Obviously, they declined, which is when Dick Jr. sourced Troutman & Barnes to make his dream come true.
T&B proceeded to use a regular old 911, merely stretching its chassis and body to accommodate the extra 21 inches of length. Interestingly enough, Porsche did build the rear seats for the car. Other notable features include the suicide-opening rear doors, which enabled the builder to keep the original handles without having to modify them too much. The four-door Porsche 911, built as a gift for Dick Jr.’s wife, reportedly cost more than Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow. Today, the car has gone missing and has yet to be found.
The idea for a four-door Porsche wouldn’t reemerge until the automaker created the 989 Concept in 1989. This was yet another stretched 911, albeit with a new 4.5-liter V8 in place of the traditional flat-six. The project was cancelled in 1992 amid the economic downturn.
In 1991, ItalDesign also tried their hand at a four-door Porsche with the 932 Panamera II Study. This particular concept was merely a restyled version of the designer’s Seat Proto TL. It was never shown to the public, and remains in Porsche’s archives in in Stuttgart today.
A couple of decades later, the Panamera finally marked the production of a four-door vehicle from the legendary automaker. It’s since been joined by not just SUVs and crossovers, but the Porsche’s first all-electric four-door sedan, the Taycan. But if it wasn’t for this handful of one-offs and quickly changing public perception, that likely would have never happened.
Photos: Porsche, Road & Track
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