- Porsche 901
Porsche 901 was the name originally intended for the
Porsche 911 .In previous models like the
Porsche 356 , Porsche had used parts fromVolkswagen , and also the VW part numbers, which reached the 800s in the early 1960s. Porsche's 1962 F1 model was calledPorsche 804 .For the new road car which had few in common anymore with VW, Porsche wanted to start a new range of numbers. At the
Internationale Automobil-Ausstellung (Frankfurt Motor Show) in Frankfurt in September 1963, Porsche presented the 901. Yet, French car makerPeugeot objected to Porsche using any three digit number where the middle number was 0, having already sold many models with that scheme, and owning the naming rights.So, Porsche simply replaced the middle 0 with a 1, and called the new car
Porsche 911 before the first cars were delivered.Also, other Porsche models were affected, which were primarily intended for racing but also sold as road legal cars. Here Porsche kept the internal part number of 90x, but sold the car with a name, like
*Porsche 904 as "Carrera GTS"
*Porsche 906 as "Carrera 6".Later Porsche were pure racing cars which were not sold for road use, so not competing with any road-going
Peugeot :
*Porsche 907
*Porsche 908
*Porsche 909 Nearly three decades later, a 905 was entered in the
1991 24 Hours of Le Mans , but not by Porsche (which then had won over a dozen times already), but byPeugeot : ThePeugeot 905 won twice, in1992 24 Hours of Le Mans and in1993 24 Hours of Le Mans . APeugeot 908 Diesel is announced for 2007.Additionally, the 901 number is used among Porsche enthusiasts as shorthand to identify the 5-Speed transmission used in early 911s, and some 914s, despite the fact that the actual part number is 911.301.101.0P.
References
External links
* [http://www.pelicanparts.com/literature/911/911_literature2.jpgEarly Porsche 901 brochure]
*cs icon [http://www.un.cz/porsche/materialy.htm Porsche 901 pictures]
* [http://www.demontrevillepress.com/demonpress_010.htm Hunt for 901 Novel]
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