Best 911 Book Reads

[yo911]

1) Pete Zimmermans, The Used 911 Story

What else is there that's current? I hear Bruce Anderson's book is good, but it's already 12 yrs old. Anything else?

[LakeCleElum]

101 Projects
Gold Plated Porsche

both timeless

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by LakeCleElum

101 Projects
Gold Plated Porsche

both timeless

+1 on both books. I have one of each autographed by each author. 101 projects is not real entertaining to read but has a lot of great information on how to fix a 911. The Gold Plated Plated Porsche has no specifics on how to work on a Porsche but it is a fun read.

I hear that Bruce Anderson has a new version of his book.

[burgermeister]

Originally Posted by LakeCleElum

101 Projects
Gold Plated Porsche

both timeless

+2 on both books.

Other good choices would be the upfixin der Porsche books and Paul Frere's book.

[Tsunamiboy]

Vic Elford's book is a must read. I believe he has an updated edition from the one shown. Great racing stories and photos. The driving tips are pure Porsche goodness. Vic will sign the book upon request!

[yo911]

I'll have to look into those. I'm looking for books mainly for buyers, like P. Zimmerman's book, on things to look for when buying a used 911.

When I checked Amazon for Bruce Anderson's book, they only had his 1996 edition. I'll have to check again.

[ikarcuaso]

[Flieger]

My ratings for 911 books:

#1 Paul Fere's Porsche 911 Story

#2 Bruce Anderson's Porsche 911 Performance Handbook

#3 Wayne Dempsey's 101 Projects for your Porsche 911

#4 Wayne Dempsey's How to Rebuild and Modify Porsche 911 Engines

For photos, Porsche 911 in Racing by Oursler et al. is the best.

[dlague]

This is my top 5 list. I have lots of Porsche books, but these are my favorites:


1. 101 Projects by Wayne Dempsey is awesome.

2. His 911 Engine book as well.

3. Randy Leffingwell has a great new book out PORSCHE AT 60 which I saw at the Motorbooks booth at the SEMA show last week. I am ordering one right now. over 180 factory photos never before published and great text from Randy as well....I have not read it, but Randy's other Porsche book is well researched and well photo graphed.

4. PORSCHE 911 Perfection by Design by Randy Leffingwell Great photos and great factory archive photos. Best of all are the interviews with many now retired engineers and key people at Porsche about the old days. Many stories never published before.

5. One last favorite is the CARRERA RS book by Dr. Thomas Gruber and Dr. Georg Konradsheim and published by TAG in Austria. Limited Edition 3000 copies. This is the "Bible" on the Carrera RS. Every serial number is listed with all other numbers like trans, engine, and the color, equipment for all 1580 Carrera RSs produced. Hard to get and I heard used copies go for $2000-3000!!

[DL Lawrence]

Most have already been mentioned, but my "must have" 911 book list would look like this:

These are in no particular order- they all have their own strengths, weaknesses, and different things to offer. All are certainly worth owning and reading, IMHO.

The Used 911 Story, by Pete Zimmermann
The Porsche 911 Story, by Paul Frere
Porsche 911 Buyers Guide, by Randy Leffingwell
Porsche 911 Red Book, by Patrick Paternie
101 Projects for your Porsche 911, by Wayne Dempsey
Porsche 911, Perfection by Design, by Randy Leffingwell
Porsche 911 3.2 Carrera, The Last of the Evolution- by Tony Corlett
Original Porsche 911- by Peter Morgan

I think all are available new/used on Amazon. Happy reading!

[Grady Clay]

+3 on the above.

Bruce A’s 3rd Ed. is scheduled to be out in the spring.

There is now a 3rd Ed. of Ludvigsen’s Excellence Was Expected. (ISBN 978 0 8376 0235 6)This is the #1 read in all the Porsche world. No one should be without this 3-volume masterpiece (1,688 pages, 1,854 illustrations).

Ludvigsen also completed Ferdinand Porsche Genius of Genius: road, racing and aviation innovations, 1900 to 1933. (ISBN 978 083761334 5) This is an outstanding work for the history buffs. I’ll speculate that Karl is working on “The War Years”. While still a sensitive subject, now it the time.

I agree with one of the old standbys now in 7th Ed.; Paul Frére’s Porsche 911 Story. (ISBN 1 85960 839 6)

Other ‘oldie but goodies’ are Julius Weitmann’s Porsche Story. (ISBN 0 668 06504 4) and We at Porsche by Ferry Porsche and John Bentley.

No list is complete without our own Pelican who majored in sports cars at Harvard – Formerly Stephan Wilkinson’s The Gold-Plated Porsche (ISBN 1 59228 256 3)

The 2nd Ed. of Lewandowski Porsche Plakate-Posters-Affiches (ISBN 978 3 7688 2515 3) is out. This is a must for a complete Porsche library.


Of course we have the “Standard References” of the Factory Workshop Manuals, Spec Books, Dempsey, Anderson and more. Those get read all the time and something new is gained each time.

When our host doesn’t have something, I buy from fellow Pelican fbarrett at http://www.toadhallbook.com/ Frank has (or can find) almost anything Porsche or Mercedes and is priced right.

Best,
Grady

[porschenut]

Originally Posted by Grady Clay

There is now a 3rd Ed. of Ludvigsen’s Excellence Was Expected. (ISBN 978 0 8376 0235 6)This is the #1 read in all the Porsche world. No one should be without this 3-volume masterpiece (1,688 pages, 1,854 illustrations).

+1 on that. Hands down, this is the granddaddy of them all. Nothing else even comes close to the depth and breadth of Porsche history than this epic tome.

[RWebb]

How to Make an Old Porsche Fly
Carrera and Carrera RS – publ. 2003. Unique Motor Books.
1963-1973 Porsche 911/912 Source Book
Weber Carburetors – official manual; also tune-up & hot rod guide

PORSCHE. THE ROAD, SPORTS AND RACING CARS. by the Dalton Watson team. 1993, now out-of-print. 260 pages, size 9.5 in by 8.5in, hard-bound – no ILL

Bacon, Roy. ?? Illustrated Motorcar Legends Porsche
Becker, Clauspeter. 1997. PORSCHE 911 - THE EVOLUTION; Stuttgart. 1997 – no ILL
Blick, Kevin. 1988. Supercars: Porsche 911. Salamander Books.
Cotton, ?? Porsche Progress.
Cotton, Michael. 1994. PORSCHE 911 AND DERIVATIVES - VOLUME 2: 1981 - 1994. Croydon, Motor Racing Publications.
Cotton, Michael. 1994. PORSCHE 911 AND DERIVATIVES VOLUME 1: 1963 - 1980. Croydon, Motor Racing Publications.
Godau, Marion and Bernd Polster Design Directory GERMANY. Universe 2000 – no ILL
Haab, Mark - 1974-1989 911, 912E and 930 PORSCHE AUTHENTICITY SERIES
Laban, Brian - Porsche - another coffee table picture book
Leffingwell, Randy. 2002. PORSCHE LEGENDS. MBI Publ. Co. St. Paul, MN. 228 p.
Leffingwell, Randy. 2005. Porsche 911: PERFECTION BY DESIGN. Motorbooks. St. Paul, MN. 352 p.
Lewandowski, Jurgen. Porsche 959. – no ILL?
Long, B. ??. 63-71 Definitive History of the 1963-1971 911 Porsche.
Miller, ?? Porsche: Power and Performance ed 2.
Pasini, Porsche 959.
Rasmussen, Henry. Porsche -- Six Cylinder Super Cars.
Schiffer, ?? Porsche 911.
Sparrow, ?? Porsche Racing.
Starkey, John. 2003. FROM R to GT3R - RACING PORSCHE 911 & 930
Vann. Fantastic Porsche.
Weitmann, Julius, Michael Cotton (Editor). 1991. Porsche Story / Hardcover / Published

Adler, Dennis. PORSCHE 911 ROAD CARS. 1998. MBI Publishers. –
Adler, Dennis. 2003. Porsche - The Road to Zuffenhausen - coffee table book; nice photos, a few tidbits not found elsewhere, concentrates on 356 years. Unclear why anyone would publish this in the face of the 3 vol. Ludvigsen book.
Aichele, Tobias. 1995. PORSCHE 911 FOREVER YOUNG – has lots of model year change info
Anderson, Bruce. 911 PERFORMANCE HANDBOOK, 2nd ed. – the definitive guide to hotrodding and to technical improvements over the years; getting a bit long in the tooth, so review his Excellence and Pano columns for newer info
Anonymous. 2000. PORSCHE, THE ESSENCE OF PERFORMANCE. Publications International, Ltd. Lincolnwood, IL. - nice picture book
Batchelor, Dean. ILLUSTRATED PORSCHE BUYERS GUIDE, 4TH ED. – updated by R. Leffingwell -- not very useful
Boschen, Lothar and Jurgen Barth. THE PORSCHE BOOK: A DEFINITIVE ILLUSTRATED HISTORY. 1978. Argo Books. – lots of text and pictures with a lot of very informative info
Clausager, Anders Ditlev. 1998. PORSCHE - THE COMPLETE HISTORY OF THE MARQUE. Gallery Books. – photos and some history; numerous errors
Cockerham, Paul W. PORSCHE: PRECISION, BALANCE, AND STYLE – big large format photos with perhaps more errors in the text than any other book on Porsche
Dempsey, Wayne R. 101 PROJECTS – wide range of skills needed for all projects
Dempsey, Wayne R. 2003. HOW TO REBUILD AND MODIFY PORSCHE 911 ENGINES 1966-1989. – xlnt photos & clear text
Editors of Consumers Guide. PORSCHE CHRONICLE. – worthless
Frere, P. ?? THE 911 STORY. Haynes Publishing. ?? – best book on the 911
Gruber, Dr. Thomas and Dr. Georg Konradsheim. 1992. CARRERA RS. Hdbd., in slipcase, 10 1/2x 12, 255 pgs., 122 black – white illustrations. limited ed. book is the key reference on the RS
Harvey, Chris. GREAT MARQUES – PORSCHE – picture book with superficial text
Leffingwell, Randy. PORSCHE 911 BUYER’S GUIDE. MBI Publishers. – highly repetitive and with several errors.
Lewis, Lucinda. 1997. Porsche – FINE ART OF THE SPORTS CAR – very large picture book, consists solely of short chapters on each model car.
Lentinello, Richard A. 2000. AUTO FOCUS: PORSCHE 911 – pretty photos and not much else
Long, Brian. 2003. PORSCHE 911, THE DEFINITIVE HISTORY, 1963 TO 1971. Veloce Publ. – some nice photos, but text is hardly definitive
Ludvigsen, Karl. EXCELLENCE WAS EXPECTED. – the definitive history, now in 3 vols. have read to p. 350??
McCarthy, Mike. 1983. The Classic PORSCHE. Exeter Books. – big picture book
McCarthy, Mike. 1986. PORSCHE. Gallery Books. – big picture book, some history
Meredith, Lawrence. PORSCHE 911 – MODEL BY MODEL. –
Miller, Susan. PORSCHE 911/912 SOURCEBOOK – information compendium now superceded by other sources
Morgan, PETER. 1998. ORIGINAL PORSCHE 911. – good photos and good text
Paternie, Patrick C. 2003. PORSCHE 911. Crestline Books. decent, but abbreviated overview.
Paternie, Patrick C. PORSCHE 911 RED BOOK.
Porter, Lindsay and Peter Morgan, PORSCHE 911 GUIDE TO PURCHASE AND DO IT YOURSELF RESTORATION, Foulis Motoring Books – low quality photos, focuses on body repair.
Porter, Lindsay and Peter Morgan. PORSCHE 911 : GUIDE TO PURCHASE AND DIY RESTORATION. Haynes Manual (Foulis Motoring Book).
Post, Dan. PORSCHE OWNERS COMPANION – rust prone areas, theft protection, how to park…
Prew, Clive. 1989. PORSCHE. - has some info on yearly models.
Reisser, Sylvain. PORSCHE. Motorbooks Intl. – modern pretty picture book; concentrates on race cars
Seif, Ingo. 1985. PORSCHE: PORTRAIT OF A LEGEND. Gallery Books, New York, NY. – may be best of the pretty picture books; has essays by various notables
Starky, John. PORSCHE 911R, RS & RSR – not very in depth
Vivian, David. 1988. SUPERCARS: THE MYTH AND THE MAGIC. Motorbooks. – a few unkind words about the 911 and 959.
Von Frankenberg, Richard. 1969. PORSCHE : THE MAN AND HIS CARS. Bentley Publ. 1983.
Wright, Nicky. 1993. PORSCHE. Longmeadow Press. – big picture book
Zimmerman, Peter. USED 911 STORY – good buyers guide; typical trouble spots, section on each model year


Automobile Quarterly, Winter 1963-64. CONSIDER THE PORSCHE, by James D. Bell.
Automobile Quarterly, 9(2), Fall-Winter, 1970. about half this volume covers Porsche – nothing that isn’t in the Ludvigsen book; small photos
SuperAuto Special Issue, April 1987. Porsche 911.

Car Books
Adler, Dennis. ART OF THE SPORTS CAR – pretty picture book, concentrates on 1920’s, 30’s
Bell, A. Graham. Four-Stroke Performance Tuning. -- goes through the engine system by system and describes how they are modified for racing.
Burgess and Gollan. SpeedPro Series Books: HOW TO MODIFY AND TUNE CYLINDER HEADS
Campbell, Colin. 1973. DESIGN OF RACING SPORTS CARS. Robert Bentley, Cambridge, MA. xlnt primer, though dated
Campbell, Colin. 1973. THE SPORTS CAR – ITS DESIGN AND PERFORMANCE. Robert Bentley, Cambridge, MA. xlnt intro, though dated
Smith, Carroll. Nuts, Bolts, Fasteners and Plumbing Handbook
Freeth, Nick. ROUTE 66.
Hammill, Des. HOW TO CHOOSE CAMSHAFTS AND TIME THEM FOR MAXIMUM POWER.
Milliken, William F. & Douglas L. Milliken. 1995. RACE CAR VEHICLE DYNAMICS. Robert Bentley, publ. in-depth treatment but ignores all non-US work
Steil, Tim. ROUTE 66.
Vizard, David. How to Build Horsepower (Vol. 1).
Watson. HOW TO BUILD AND MODIFY CYLINDER HEADS, CAMSHAFTS AND VALVE-TRAINS - don't waste your time with this - title is similar but the contents are not!

Sources for Books
My Porsche 1-800-655-3280
Seaside, California
parts@my-porsche.com
motorbooks.com 800-826-6600.

[RWebb]

Magazine Articles

R&T - December 1963 - Tested: very first Porsche 901, 911 cover story
R&T, Dec. 1967 – NART Spyder article
R&T, March 1969 – 911T
C&D, March 1968 – Sportomatic test
C&D, March 1975 – Porsche Carrera, The Fastest Production Car in America
Motor Sport magazine 1970 - Porsche 911S
Motor Sport magazine 1966 - Porsche 911 2.0 litre
Classic and Sportscar magazine. April 1982 - article on 911 Carrera RS 1973 2.7.

R&T, March 1965 – Porsche 911 intro test; also Weber Carb article
R&T, November 1966 – 911S test, 906, Butzi interview
R&T, April 1968 – Alan Johnson's 67S compared to stock 911S
R&T, January 1969 - Tested: Porsche 911E – wt. = 2,361 (4 spd); paint fantastically good; air leaks around front door edges causes noise
R&T, February 1969 – owners report – owners drive much more than average, 94% use daily, 6% race; Best Features: Handling – 77%, Performance – 33%, Fuel Economy, Workmanship, Reliability – 16%; Worst Features: Heater/Defroster, Expensive Service, Ventilation; 95% would buy another –22% had instrument problems, mostly with speedometer
R&T, March 1970, p. 60-62 – Porsche 911S – little torque until 4,500 rpm; instruments are complete, decidedly businesslike and readable; but car has chronic leaks around leading edges of doors
R&T, August 1973 – Porsche 911 S and Carrera RSR
R&T, April, 1971, p. 31 – Porsche 911T Sportomatic – nice but why?
R&T, November 1972, p. 138 – Ultimate Porsche 911 911E with +30 hp, flares, spoilers
C&D, April 1965 – Porsche 911 Great New Sports Car; & Rear Engine Cars Handle Best (by Jim Hall)
C&D, January 1967, p. 37 – Porsche 911S (“Oversteer is back, and Porsche’s got it!”)
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showthread.php?t=65942&highlight=1967+911s+test
C&D, March 1969, p. 35 – Mark Donohue tests Four ’69 Porsches
C&D, February 1972 – Tested: Porsche 911S, 911T & 911E – have online download
Motor Trend , Jan. 1967, p. 22 – 1967 911S – Fuchs are “not particularly handsome, but [do] aid in cooling the disc brakes”
Motor Trend, May 1970 Page 76-78, 116 - 1970 Corvette vs. Porsche 911 – Corvette as fast as 911 through the corners; but Porsche Quality still conquers
Motor Trend, May 1972 –Porsche Faces Porsche, John Cristy, p. 23.
Sports Car Graphic, Dec. 1965

Comparison Tests:
R&T, June 1969 – Four Luxury GT’s, p. 52 – 911T rated higher than XKE, Corvette (except on engine), or MB 280SL – owner’s images characterized, and a Porsche owner is overly “serious,” not a swinger, and has a “limited sense of humor”
Motor Trend, July 1971 – 911 vs. Dino – 911 build quality superior; 911 has classic economy of line vs. Italian trick stuff like curves and bulges and flares and scoops. Dino feels completely neutral and can drive deeper into corners than can the 911, but the 911 is much easier to go fast with comfortably right from the start. Thus, the Dino has only a barely perceptible higher cornering velocity. Both use Porsche synchronizers, but Dino is stiff and gate is too wide. 911 has effortless gear changes up and down but vague pattern. 911 is best – more of a reoad car/racer, while Dino is more f a show car/racer.

[Formerly Steve Wilkinson]

You aren't kidding when you joke that I "majored in sports cars at Harvard." My best friend and constant companion was a classmate from York, Pennsylvania, John Barber.

Today they call him Skip.

[Schumi]

Porsche 911: Perfection by Design by Randy Leffingwell

Great book, covers the whole shebang, from the last of the 356 to the 997. Offers some unique looks at the finances of Porsche or the years and has a lot of insight from people involved with the company, especially with the dire times in the 80s. and Peter Schultz's revamp of the company (including saving the 911)

[chrisg252]

No one has mentioned "A Passion for Porsches" by Dennis Jenkinson, published by Haynes. Not specifically about 911s but a really good read and very good on the sporting background of the marque as covered by a British journalist. And the author was Stirling Moss' co-driver in the Mercedes 300SLR on the penultimate Targa Florio, so he knew a bit about driving fast.
Chris

[RWebb]

wow - didn't know about that one -- Jenks was one of the great automotive writers.

[chrisg252]

wow - didn't know about that one -- Jenks was one of the great automotive writers.

Agreed. the book is full of anecdotes about his relationships with von Hanstein, Wolfgang von Trips and many of the drivers of the early post WW2 era. He managed to get the British Porsche importer to sell him a 356 for a tad below invoice and that's a neat story as well. Lots of good personal pictures.
Chris

[NickP]

I love the 2 Rennsport Books by Jeff Zwart. Both are great reference books on some very significant Porsches and the photography is first class.