The Porsche 911 is the iconic Porsche sports car, defying the laws of cornering Physics with its rear mounted flat-6 engine, which was originally air-cooled. While there is Porsche, it seems, there will always be a Porsche 911, although it may have little mechanical resemblance to the first 911s, apart from having a rear mounted flat-6 of course. In the 1970s and 1980s Porsche made the front engined 924, 928 and 944, but real Porschists demanded a 911.

1964: First 911, 1991cc flat-6, 96kW (130bhp); it followed the general layout of the Porsche 356.

(1964: 912, flat-4 version 1582cc, 66kW.)

 

1980s Porsche developed a 4x4 911 for rallying, even winning the Paris-Dakar with one in 1984.

4x4 911, c1981

From 1994 all wheel drive (that is four wheel drive) became a feature of some variants of road-going 911s in an effort to tame its handling for the less able owner with a lead foot.

1997: The new 911 (996)'s 3.4-litre flat-6 engine was water-cooled – easier to reduce noise and pollution.

2002 Porsche 911 GT2

Loa 4445mm, width 1830mm, height 1275mm, wheelbase 2355mm,

weight 1440kg (unladen)

Engine 3.6-litre, flat-6, twin turbo-charged, 4valves/cyl, dohc

power 340kW at 5700rpm, torque 620Nm at 3500rpm,

Transmission 6-speed manual

Suspension indep/ indep, brakes disc/ disc

Tyres 245/35ZR18/ 335/30ZR18

Price $388K [$au, Feb 2002]

2002, 911 C4S with AWD

2004: The 911 (997).

2010, May 12: Porsche released details of the 911 GT2 RS, 3.6-litre, 6-cyl., twin turbo-chargers, 620hp, 1370kg, claiming 11.9 l/100km (23.7mpg, 284 gm CO2/km). "Limited to just 500 units," "world debut at the Moscow Auto Show on August 25th 2010," from €199,500+tax, €237,578 in .de (9/2010).

2011, September: The next 911, the so called 911 (991), made its debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show. Flat-6 engine, as always, now 3.4-litre in the Carrera, direct injection, 261kW, 380Nm, claiming 8.2 l/100km & 194 gm CO2/km, and in the Carrera S 3.8-litre, 300kW, 440Nm. Transmission options, 7-speed manual, or 7-speed dual clutch "auto", from £81K (11/'11).

2012, April 5: Prof. Ferdinand Alexander Porsche (11/12/1935 - 5/4/2012), who "sculpt[ed] the first model" for the 356 replacement and "was head of the Porsche design studio" when the 911 (901) was released, died in Salzburg.

2013, May 3: Porsche presented "the new generation 911 Turbo (383kW) and Turbo S (412kW)." Rear axle steering to 2ngles the rear wheels up to 2.8°.

2018 November: Generation 8 911 (992) at the Los Angeles Motor Show.

2019 December 20: "The final [911 991] has now rolled off the production line – a 911 Speedster." — Porsche.