Seventy-five years ago, Ferdinand "Ferry" Porsche realized his dream of the perfect sports car. It was a dream reportedly born the moment he realized he'd never be able to find a car that matched his vision of what a sports car should be. So, with the Porsche 356 No.1 Roadster, Ferry and his team laid the foundation for the Porsche legend. On June 8, 1948, the model received its general operating permit.
Now this entire year has been filled with a celebration of seven and a half decades of Porsche achievements.
On the actual anniversary date in June, the Porsche team hosted a livestreaming event to explore the themes of Heritage, Zeitgeist, Performance, Pioneering Spirit and Dreams together with contemporary witnesses, brand ambassadors, Porsche dreamers and cars from the brand’s 75-year history.
The 356 No. 1 Roadster was the birth of the sports car brand that during this anniversary year embarked on its Porsche Vision 357. As an homage, the concept car brought the monolithic form into the present day. The Style Porsche Team manifested potential expressions of current design philosophy through the consistent enhancement of the light signature and the interplay between tradition and innovation.
“We created a very special birthday present in the form of the Porsche Vision 357, one which uses the 356 as a basis to underscore the significance of our design DNA,” says Michael Mauer, Porsche vice president of style. “The concept car is an attempt to combine the past, present and future with coherency, featuring proportions that are reminiscent of its historical archetype and details that visualize the outlook for the future.”
For the anniversary year, the Porsche team enjoyed introducing new colors and launched new models. New colors include metallics in cherry, frozen berry, coffee beige, frozen blue, mamba green and mahogany Metallic, plus Neptune blue and chalk.
As a new concept vehicle, the Mission X is a spectacular, conceptual reinterpretation of a hypercar, with Le Mans-style doors that open upward to the front and an ultra high-performance, efficient electric powertrain.
The 2024 Cayenne debuted with a highly digitalized display and control interior concept, new chassis technology and innovative high-tech features. “It’s one of the most extensive product upgrades in the history of Porsche,” says Michael Schätzle, Cayenne vice-president product line. High-definition HD Matrix Design LED headlights illuminate the road with a clear visual signature, an air quality system filters pollutants from the cabin, and for the first time in the Cayenne, an optional display for the front passenger can be ordered to stream videos during a trip.
Additionally, during Sept. 28 through Oct. 1, the world’s largest gathering of Porsche race cars and drivers meet at Rennsport Reunion 7, a lifestyle festival hosted at Weathertech Raceway Laguna Seca near Monterey, California.
The festival is a time when new and longtime Porsche enthusiasts, owners and collectors stand shoulder to shoulder with renowned drivers and legendary engineers. It's a place where new vehicle reveals and some of the rarest Porsche models ever made are found just steps away from exciting racing action, esports, fan zones and meet and greets with living icons. It’s described as part motorsport, part car show, and part family reunion as a weekend celebration for Porsche fans of all ages.
By the way, the Porsche 356 went into series production as a coupé with a different frame and a 40-PS (39-hp) rear engine instead of the original mid-engine concept. This type formed the foundation for the success of the Porsche brand. After the first largely manually built cars (coupé and convertible) 356/2 with an aluminum bodyshell, Porsche moved from Gmünd back to Stuttgart at the end of 1949. This is where series production of the Porsche 356 sports car began. The sheet-steel bodies were manufactured by Stuttgart-based Reutter body-works while engine production began in Zuffenhausen in space rented from Reutter as Porsche Werk 1 was still occupied by the Allies.
Some 78,000 units of the Porsche 356 had been built by 1965. 356 (“pre-A”, 1948-1955), 356 A (1955-1959), 356 B (1959-1963) and 356 C (1963-1965) were available in a range of open- and closed-top body versions and various performance levels.
As of this summer, The Porsche Museum in Stuttgart was infused with a new atmosphere through which guests can journey through 75 years of brand history. Between the prologue and the epilogue, the special exhibition covers many topics of the present and the future, with fascinating people and trailblazing technologies, digitally animated. Visitors also are introduced to the visions of 40 further dreamers whose quotations and realizations of their dreams add to the experience of the installation.
Porsche of Nashville is located at 1580 Mallory Lane in Brentwood.