Iconic cars such as the 356s and the immortal 911s, extraordinary success
stories in the classic endurance races, great champions and remarkable
engineers. These are the principal ingredients of Porsche: The Golden
Years, a book examining the full history of the legendary Stuttgart firm,
with spectacular and previously unpublished images by photographer Franco
Villani. The Porsche 356, with both closed and open bodywork, was the
model that in 1948 officially inaugurated the catalogue of the celebrated
Stuttgart firm. In that difficult period of reconstruction, Dr. Ferdinand
Porsche, artificer of the car and founder of the marque, was already an
undisputed authority in the automotive field for having designed the
Volkswagen Beetle, the people’s car. The Porsche 356s were “legitimate
offspring" of the Beetle and soon found favour with the public: they were
sporting cars that were easy to use in everyday life. This is the true
Porsche “DNA”, confirmed with the launch of the 901, or rather the 911
that first saw the light of day in 1963, a model that soon became a
planetary success story, a car capable of traversing the decades while
maintaining intact its appeal. The Porsche name also evokes the
innumerable victories obtained in legendary endurance races such as the Le
Mans 24 Hours and the Targa Florio, in the World Rally Championship and in
the great African raids such as the Paris-Dakar, as well as in Formula 1
as an engine supplier to McLaren in the early ‘80s.
Dimensions: 11.5 x 1.3 x 12.3