Who Named Your Porsche?
Brief History: Before Porsche Was Porsche
The in-house numbering system for each Porsche design started before the make was introduced. Going back to 1931, every new design came from engineer Ferdinand Porsche’s office and was given a number in consecutive order. The numbers kept rising over the years, whether it was for car manufacturers like Wanderer, Grand Prix, or Volkswagen. It wasn’t until 1948 that the number reached 356, and that’s when the first automobile carried the brand name Porsche.
The Most Popular Porsche
Most Porsche enthusiasts will agree that the Porsche 911 is still today’s most popular model. How it came to be the 911 is interesting. The engineers at Zuffenhausen and Weissach continued to use the same internal coding three number system. After 1953’s Porsche 550 Spyder, Zuffenhausen decided to drop the customary typology to stay compatible with anticipated collaborations with the VW plant. The 900 numbers had not been given out yet, so they decided to name the new 6-cylinder Porsche model 901 and the 4-cylinder Porsche model 902.
Of course, someone had a problem with that. Peugeot claimed that since they had been using a three-digit naming system with a zero in the middle since 1929, they had a right to all similar numbering sequences in France. So the Porsche manufacturers changed the “0” to a “1,” making it the “911” instead. They just had to double the already existing “1.” And that’s how the legendary Porsche 911 was born and named.
900 Numbers to Nicknames
The Porsche company designed dozens of subsequent 900 series models through the years. However, the 900 numbers eventually started to run out and started competing with each other. In order to remain flexible, the 911 series started to add letter designations like the “A” through “G” series launched in 1968-1973. In addition to the numerous 900 model cool nicknames that true Porsche enthusiasts should be familiar with.
The O.G. Porsche 356 is affectionately called the “Dame.” The Porsche 917/20 is referred to as the “Sau,” which means Pink Pig because of its body and color. Can you guess how they came up with the name Boxster for the Porsche 917? Simply by combining the “roadster” and “boxer.” Roadster refers to the two-seater body style, and Boxer refers to the engine type. The Porsche 917 Cayman model was later introduced in 2006, putting their spin on the spelling of caiman, which is in the alligator family.
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