M. Requin

This needs to be on my shop wall. I need a poster!

G8RB8

From the comments section and by one of the authors...
David Hurth IX-XI
• 2 days ago

Thanks for your comments.

For the 959 I'll talk to some guys from Porsche at Peeble Beach this weekend and have them settle that for us.

As for the 928 we think it is a great car and perhaps we can do a full review of a 928 to make sure we give it a fair shake. We'll just need to find someone with a good one in the California Central Coast area, which shouldn't be too hard.

Anyone willing to loan them your car for an eval?

Leon Speed

They put a GTS on the list instead of an (89) S4. Go figure

M. Requin

Fair enough.

BC

Rob

9eighty6

A good read ... Make sure you get all the way through!

http://thesportscarguys.com/2013/08/10/5-best-non-911-porsche-production-cars/

tmpusfugit

The fellow has a lot of wrong information regarding the 550 Spyder, don't know about the other references, but I do have a bit of information on Spyders...they were not based on 356's as a start. It was based on a design and work from Glocker that started in 1949. The first "real" 550 was 550-01 and it ran pre LeMans at Nurburgring May 31st, 1953. They also ran -001 in the 1953 Carrera Panamericana. In 1954 a 1100cc 550 Spyder driven by Zora Arkus- Duntov (yes, that Duntov) finished first in class at LeMans. In the 1955 LeMans 2 Spyders finished 1st and 2nd in the 1100cc class, and in the 1500cc class the 550 Spyders finished 1,2,3 and 4th overall against the best cars in the world....the 550's had won many races prior to the 1956 race the author cites, Targa Florio. To suggest the '54 and '55 LeMans performances were not major races or for that matter the Carrera Panamericana was not, is at best disingenuous and most likely fighting words for 550 aficionados.....

The Glöckler Specials

Walter Glöckler was a successful Frankfurt auto dealer who obtained one of the first Volkswagen dealerships after the war and rode the VW’s success to prosperity. An accomplished amateur motorcycle racer before the war, he also took up auto racing and plunged into postwar racing with enthusiasm, backed both by money and by the facilities and staff that his dealership supported. The Glöckler shop was run by Hermann Ramelow who had worked on the prewar Adler sports cars. In 1948, Ramelow created a mid-engined Hanomag-powered special for Glöckler to race.

For the 1950 season, they adopted the newly available 1.1-liter Porsche engine, mounting it amidships with the rear suspension reversed – as on the original Porsche 356 roadster – in a tube frame chassis with a central driving position and lightweight aluminum bodywork by C.H. Weidenhausen of Frankfurt. It weighed in at under a thousand pounds and even with less than 50 horsepower, Glöckler won the 1950 German 1,100 cc sports car championship with it. Converting the Porsche engine to run on alcohol brought it to 62hp and kept the Glöckler special competitive in 1951.

Glöckler’s success, and the attention to quality and detail which his car evidenced, brought recognition from Porsche and a collaboration was begun with Glöckler, who agreed to badge his cars as Porsches to bring publicity and recognition to the company and its products. Porsche in turn assisted with the latest engine developments – now coming fast and furious from the company’s success and continuing development. The line of development which Walter Glöckler and Hermann Ramelow began would eventually flow back to Porsche in Zuffenhausen, where in 1953, Porsche began to build its first series of racing cars, Project 550.

Glöckler and Ramelow built their next special for the 1951 season. Its construction details were similar, but behind the driver sat the latest 1,500 cc Porsche engine and it rode on beautifully detailed, magnesium alloy wheels with integral brake drums made by Alex von Falkenhausen. Extensively lightened, meticulously constructed to balance strength with light weight, and streamlined to the point where it even had a full belly pan, the 1951 Glöckler weighed only 990 pounds.


But, as to the 928 content, it is nice to see some of the folks coming around on what most of us know to be a fine car.....

namasgt

A lot of people here complained about the original article that didn't include the 928 in their list, read the comments. In the end they end up adding it to the list as the last one to keep people happy. There is a thread here about it. I think the 928 should have been on the list in the first place, maybe in the top 3. But look at how some journalists talk about the 928, there is so much misinformation out there that its crazy. I have even heard people saying 928s are terrible handling cars from people that never had one or driven one. I guess since Porsche never really raced the 928 people think it was a bad platform.
Look at this article see how the guy that actually drives one describes it, look at the comments.

http://jalopnik.com/the-928-is-every...t-be-473740640

Wikipedia article about Schutz,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Schutz

"Meanwhile the Porsche racing team was in the process of entering 24 Hours of Le Mans with modified 928's, which they stated had no hope of winning. Schutz said that they were either going to the race with the intention of winning, or not going at all.[5] The engineers responded by pulling three 936's from museum displays, equipping them with experimental engines developed for Indy Car racing, and winning the race. This was followed by the 956 that dominated Le Mans in 1982 and 1000 km Nürburgring in 1983, and the all-wheel-drive 953, which won the Paris-Dakar Rally in 1984 and the 959 in 1986."

Fogey1

I'm sorry, this may be a bit off topic but:

{RANT ON} Sonny, you don't what you're talking about. Do you talk to your grandfather with that mouth? The 356 is the car that made Porsche and made the name a racing legend long before the 911 came along. It's a pure driver's car, though it took taste to appreciate it, $$$ to acquire it (sound familiar?) and skilful finesse to drive it fast. The genes of the 356 are in every Porsche ever made, including the 928, and the corporate ethic that it exemplified is still what makes Porsche special. {RANT OFF} With all due respect.

Can you tell I loved my 356's? They taught me to feel a car on the road and, thus, to drive. I agree with Dr. Bob they've been far surpassed, but so what? They're still pure pleasure to drive and you can still step out after a 12 hour drive and stand upright. All that's best about Porsche was there in the 356. And they have that "Better a slow car fast than a fast car slow" thing going for them.

Not that this is any defense of the bozos at SportsCarGuys, nor that I'd want to endure the climate around the Burj al Khalifa in a 356. But for a pleasure drive in Morgan County, Ohio, an open 356 is plenty of car.

dehsoftware

Check this out. This is a more recent article from the The Sports Car Guys, which does show the car a little love. Unfortunately, they leave off some cool features of the 928 as are mentioned in the comments, but at least they are letting people know more about how important the 928 is to Porsche.

http://thesportscarguys.com/2014/01/...to-other-cars/