Porsche History

Aug 21, 2003 1 Replies

Is there, in english, a definitive history of the Porsche company and cars. I'm particularly interested in the 550, RSK and RS60 and 61 series in as much detail as possible.



When I was in high school in 1961 (sophomore year) one of the guys brought his dad's race car into the school auto shop. It was an RSK. Being weaned on flathead Fords and small block Chevys (egad, we hadn't even begun calling them small blocks yet!), I couldn't make head nor tails of the thing. When he described the engine layout to me...(How many cams? and they're WHERE?) I was astonished. And the NOISE it made. An epiphany to say the least. I began following sports car racing and have been a rabid fan ever since, with those little silver cars occupying a special place. I haven't thought about them in a long time and was, last weekend, at the Monterey Historic races and there were several being raced.



TIA Bill Smith


Bill,

Here's a few to get you started... The first is considered by some as the definitive book.

Porsche: Excellence Was Expected: The Comprehensive History of the Company, its Cars and its Racing Heritage by Karl E. Ludvigsen

Porsche Spyders: Type 550 1953-1956 by Karl Ludvigsen

Porsche: 356 & Rs Spyders by Gordon Maltby

The Story of Porsches (Classic Cars: An Imagination Library Series) by David K. Wright, Jim Mezzanotte

Porsche 911: The Definitive History 1977 to 1987 by Brian Long

A Passion for Porsches by Denis Jenkinson

Porsche: The Road to Zuffenhausen by Dennis Adler

Happy Reading!!! Steve

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