Porsche 911 = 50 Years

[RichardNew]

I've spent the last few days working my way through this book. It's great. Leffingwell was given access to the Porsche archives. He also spent a lot of time in Germany interviewing all the players. There's a lot of new information in this book.

He's also the first person to explain the real reason the oil reservoir tank kept moving around the car in the early 70's. All of the usual stories are wrong. Amazing what you can find out when you talk to the folks who actually designed the cars.

Richard Newton
My Facebook Collection

[Reiver]

So according to Leffingwell who really designed the 911's shape?

[javadog]

He's also the first person to explain the real reason the oil reservoir tank kept moving around the car in the early 70's. All of the usual stories are wrong.

How's that?

JR

[dcjones56]

Originally Posted by RichardNew

Amazing what you can find out when you talk to the folks who actually designed the cars.

Richard Newton
My Facebook Collection

Yes, I'm sure it is, but you are not prone to give any answers are you? You go through the book and ponder all of Randy's interesting facts, but you won't share any? What am I missing here? Is this some sort of cruel joke? A tease to get us to buy the book? If so, what is your commission? Are you his publisher? What gives?

[RichardNew]

Not a tease.

The engineers wanted better weight balance in the 911. Moving the oil tank forward would do that. They finally got their wish except everyone had forgotten about side impact standards. That meant the oil tank had to be moved back for the following model year. It had nothing at all to do with the idea that folks put gas into the oil tank. That's just urban myth.

Design of the 911 is really interesting. Design is usually the work of a team - not an individual. Actually the head of design does very little actual design work. F.A. headed the team - but did very little actual design work. People like Theo Bauer and Werner Trenkler played a huge role in the design.

This is very common in the industry. The same discussion take place about the '63 Corvette. A number of people have taken credit for that design. Bill Mitchell was the one that actually made it happen. Everyone else was supporting cast.

Richard Newton

[dcjones56]

Originally Posted by RichardNew

Not a tease.

The engineers wanted better weight balance in the 911. Moving the oil tank forward would do that. They finally got their wish except everyone had forgotten about side impact standards. That meant the oil tank had to be moved back for the following model year. It had nothing at all to do with the idea that folks put gas into the oil tank. That's just urban myth.

Design of the 911 is really interesting. Design is usually the work of a team - not an individual. Actually the head of design does very little actual design work. F.A. headed the team - but did very little actual design work. People like Theo Bauer and Werner Trenkler played a huge role in the design.

This is very common in the industry. The same discussion take place about the '63 Corvette. A number of people have taken credit for that design. Bill Mitchell was the one that actually made it happen. Everyone else was supporting cast.

Richard Newton

Very nice. Thank you.

[dicklague]

I go the book as a Christmas present. I too love it. Randy is extremely knowledgeable and has great contacts at Porsche. Lots of great information and lots and lots of wonderful photos.