Porsche started out on its maddening journey long ago with the first car wearing the Porsche badge, a Porsche 356 sports car, hitting the streets in 1948. However, Ferdinand Porsche had been setting automotive milestones even before that. Here in this article, we could accommodate just ten Porsche cars that have tasted success; the top ten cars that the auto maker chalked up during the extraordinary race. Every Porsche is indeed classy, but here are the top 10 that stand out a bit more than the rest. Here is our pick. This is Part II of the article! Please refer Top 10 Porsche Cars of All Time - Part I for the remaining cars.
Best known in the U.S. as James Dean's fateful last ride, the Porsche 550 Spyder was a terrifying machine at the time. The car was heir to the original 356, and the 550 was engineered in a way to raise Porsche's status higher in the international racing community. The 550 Spyder thus featured a more rigid frame, a lightweight, hand-built aluminium body and an awesome engine mounted in the middle rather than the rear.
Power output was a decent 70 horses. However, the overall package proved to be quite successful. Porsche 550s took home a one-two win at the car's first ever race, the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The race car continued to dominate legendary events like the Carrera Panamericana.
The Porsche 959 not just built the blueprint for modern-day sports cars belonging to the Porsche fold, but it did so for the entire sports car industry. The 959 was unveiled in 1983 and featured futuristic technologies like an all-wheel drive system, a 450-bhp turbocharged flat-6, magnesium wheels and run-flat tyres. The Porsche 959's body may look ordinary today, but was exceptionally advanced due to its slippery shape, flush headlamps and integrated bumpers. The car maker constructed a little more than 200 models to meet FIA homologation requirements, but the car never achieved certification for North America. However, in 1998, a new U.S. law allowed cars like the 959 to be brought over under a "Show and Display" status, finally allowing the nation enjoy a true icon of automotive history.
In the movie Le Mans, Steve McQueen drives a Porsche 917. Isn't that itself enough to explain why we put this car on our list of the greatest Porsches of all time? The 917, however, has much more to prove that it is one of the greatest race cars of all time. Drawing power from a flat-12 engine capable of churning out over 620 bhp, the Porsche 917 was incredibly fast. Flying under the Porsche/Gulf Racing banner in 1970, the 917 gave Porsche its first overall win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. History repeated itself the following year with the 917 winning the race yet another time in 1971. Porsche officially retired the car in 1971, but it went on to conquer racetracks around the world for another 10 years.
Unfortunately, this list restricts us from having more than ten Porsches. There are so many great 911s, that it has been real hard to choose just one. The Porsche 911 was introduced in 1964 as successor to the 356. The original 911 was a complete package, wrapping within leading performance, luxury and technology that make the car look fresh and modern even today. Two years later, in 1966, a more powerful Porsche 911S was introduced. By the way, the S stands for Super. The 911S flaunted a more powerful 158-bhp flat-6, bigger brakes and an enhanced suspension. However, if you're wondering about the main motive behind positioning this car here, it's the wheels. Porsche shed five pounds from each corner by using five-spoke Fuchs alloy wheels. The design of these wheels has come to define the classic 911 look almost as much as the 911 silhouette itself. For many, the moment they hear the word "Porsche", they remember a 911 with Fuchs rims and for that very reason we feel the 1966 911S is the most important 911 of all time.
The list already contains two successors of the Porsche 356. We have written about it in the beginning of the article too. So then, how can we manage to just not include it in our list as one of the best Porsches ever? No, we couldn't do that! It was the first Porsche to do, or be, anything. Also, the 356 is the embodiment of everything a Porsche is, was and ever will be. It was the first Porsche-branded vehicle ever built and the first Porsche to win a motor sports competition. In other words, there literally would be no Porsche were it not for the 356. The car's light weight and attention to performance made the 356 a formidable sports car with owners ardently racing them to great success. Many variants of the car, including the America Roadster, the Max Hoffman-inspired 356 Speedster and Karmann-built "Notchback" 356B, were created during its 18-year production run. The racing versions took home several victories, including class wins at Le Mans and the Mille Miglia. Whatever the version was, the 356 was always gorgeous, always swift, and always desirable by all who looked upon it.
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