[wayner]

I think the original question was:

"Where did the 901 number come from?" (not the 911 number).

My understanding was that 901 was just the next number in porsches engineering project sequence.

I have always been told that Porsche was primarily an engineering company, and as an engineering company, Porsche used sequential project numbers. One number could be a studebaker steering box, and the next number might have been an internal project that they did once in a while (perhaps a car or Porsche transmission - a project 356, and then some years after a number of engineering projects for other companies, a project 550).

VW beetles have always been known as a type1. I though this was because the beetle was one of their first projects?

I'd be interested in hearing if there is more to it than that.