Porsche 901 and Porsche 959: Driving Two Game-Changing Porsches

MotorTrend

In just over 20 years

Transcript

00:00 [LAUGHTER]

00:01 I can't believe this is happening.

00:03 I just can't believe they're letting me do this.

00:05 [LAUGHTER]

00:07 [CAR ENGINE]

00:14 Hi there.

00:15 This is it, the original, the originator, the car that

00:20 launched over a million 911s.

00:22 It's called the 901.

00:24 And we'll get to why it's called that in a minute.

00:25 But look at it.

00:27 Way back in the beginning, everything was already there.

00:30 That classic shape, the big headlights, a rear-mounted

00:34 pancake Boxer 6 motor, tiny little back seat.

00:38 Everything was there.

00:39 And it's still there today.

00:41 Look, this is the 911 they launched in 2019, the 992.

00:46 Things have changed, that's for sure.

00:48 Water-cooled, 450 horsepower, two turbo chargers, all-wheel

00:52 drive, and the crazy part is the engine.

00:55 Porsche made a 911 that did all that 33 years ago.

00:59 They just called it the 959.

01:01 And here it is, Porsche's first supercar.

01:05 To me, the crazy part, though, is that in just over 20 years,

01:09 they went from this to this.

01:11 So much evolution, so much technology.

01:14 How did they do that?

01:16 Let's find out.

01:18 [CAR ENGINE]

01:20 Driving a Porsche 901.

01:22 That's where it all began, man.

01:25 It's crazy.

01:27 They've made over and sold over a million 911s.

01:31 A lot of you probably know the story that Porsche, they

01:34 needed to replace the, at that point, very old 356.

01:38 And they wanted something with a six-cylinder engine.

01:40 That was going to be this car called the 901.

01:43 So Peugeot, they saw the car, and they said, hey, listen,

01:47 Porsche, blank zero, zero, zero.

01:50 Blank, zero, blank.

01:53 That's kind of how we name cars.

01:54 We'd appreciate it if you didn't call it 901.

01:57 And there was never a lawsuit or anything like that.

02:01 They just made the decision that they were going to call

02:04 their new car the 911.

02:06 However, the first 242 cars sold, I believe is the number,

02:11 were actually badged as 901s.

02:16 This car.

02:17 So rewind the clock back to October 22, 1964.

02:25 They built three cars that day.

02:28 This is the third car built that day.

02:30 So it's the last one built.

02:31 That's also the day that Ferry Porsche, Fernand

02:34 Porsche's son, decided, you know what?

02:37 Let's not fight with the French.

02:39 Peugeot gets their way.

02:40 We're going to change the name from the 901 to the 911.

02:44 Meaning this thing I'm driving around Sonoma Raceway is the

02:48 very last 901 ever built.

02:53 How about them apples?

02:54 [LAUGHS]

02:57 It's just a multi-purpose sports car.

03:00 Still have the--

03:01 the front opens up, puts stuff in there.

03:03 So it's really, in a lot of ways, the birth of the modern

03:08 sports car, way back in the '60s.

03:11 So what if we were to hop into something still a 911, but--

03:19 well, it's the Porsche 959.

03:21 So let's check that thing out.

03:23 [MUSIC PLAYING]

03:26 Oh, it's so good.

03:29 [LAUGHS]

03:32 Look, I've been doing this professionally for 15 years

03:35 now, and that entire time, I've been

03:38 waiting to drive a 959.

03:40 I've been waiting most of my life, and I'm driving it.

03:45 Almost a tear to my eye, maybe if I wasn't on camera.

03:48 So when this car came out, it was the

03:52 fastest car in the world.

03:53 It could go 197 miles an hour.

03:55 So it's 444 horsepower, sequential turbo.

03:58 So it has a little turbo that kind of runs the whole time.

04:01 And then when you crest 5,000 RPMs, which--

04:05 let's do that right now--

04:07 the other turbo kicks in.

04:08 And it's not-- it doesn't kick.

04:10 It's not like an old Saab, where it's like, ba-boom.

04:13 It's not this crazy lag thing.

04:14 It's just like a more powerful force takes you over.

04:19 And it's just awesome.

04:23 And again, 450 horsepower.

04:26 The new 992 has 450 horsepower.

04:29 That's how long it's taken the 911 to catch up to the 959.

04:33 And that's-- yes, the base car still makes less than this

04:36 thing did back in 1986.

04:39 It's crazy.

04:41 And it's a sweetheart to drive.

04:43 The car was all-wheel drive, too, which was new and very

04:46 different for a supercar.

04:48 No one was doing that.

04:49 Oh, that power.

04:55 When that turbo comes on--

04:58 right, right.

04:58 Back to what makes this car so special.

05:00 So they just rewrote all the rules with this thing.

05:04 Money was no object.

05:05 Look, when this car was new, the price back then was $225,000.

05:13 So in today's money, that's $530,000.

05:17 And Porsche still lost a half million bucks on

05:20 every one they sold.

05:21 That's how advanced this car was.

05:23 The body is-- there's some aluminum, but there's also

05:26 Kevlar, some other bulletproof material.

05:30 The floor is Nomex.

05:32 I mean, it's just a spaceship.

05:33 This is the equivalent of if, I don't know, the NASA museum

05:38 let me take the Saturn V out.

05:40 That's how advanced this thing was at the time.

05:43 And now, after doing a couple laps here at Sonoma Raceway,

05:51 it's just so good.

05:53 Life is so good.

05:55 Oh, man.

05:57 Oh, man.

05:58 What a world.

05:59 [LAUGHTER]

06:04 Give me that turbo.

06:05 [LAUGHTER]

06:08 Oh, yeah.

06:12 So that's the Porsche 959.

06:15 Came a long way from the 901.

06:20 That was like the best 10 minutes of my life.

06:22 [LAUGHTER]

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