The Porsche 911's endurance in production is part of its continuing appeal. There always seems to be a significant date or anniversary to mark. Look away now if such things make you feel old, but this one definitely deserves recognition because 2024 is the 50th birthday of the G-Series. The 911 had already been 11 years in production, yet this 'impact bumper' generation was the first significant styling and engineering revamp since launch, albeit an enforced one.
The period 1973 to 1974 was a traumatic one for sports cars. American safety and pollution-busting legislation meant a hefty aesthetic blow from the 'ugly stick' combined with a double-whammy drop in performance. Previously elegant and svelte designs grew unattractive appendages front and rear. Think MGB, Fiat 124 Spider, X1/9. And, of course, the 911 didn't escape either.
Predictably, perhaps, Porsche executed and integrated its response rather more sympathetically. So much so that the G-Series cars it ushered in lasted from '74 to '89 - fully 15 years with no significant styling changes. The similarly imposed drop in performance was also soon negated with the introduction of Bosch fuel injection systems, which wrung the absolute max from the fuel and air mix.
Perhaps fittingly, it's fair to say that the US-market machines never truly caught up, hobbled by catalytic converters and fuel as weak as Budweiser. Yet this sort of stuff was becoming ever-more important and Porsche saw it as a point of principle to improve fuel economy and efficiency. As the G-Series cars became faster, with each new model they became increasingly abstemious, too.
Esta historia es de la edición 253 - July 2024 de Octane.
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Esta historia es de la edición 253 - July 2024 de Octane.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
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Will China Change Everything? - China is tearing up modern motor manufacture but is yet to make more than a ripple in the classic car world. That could be about to change dramatically
China now dominates the automotive world in a way even Detroit in its heyday would have struggled to comprehend.Helped by Government incentives, the new car world is dominated by China's industries: whether full cars that undercut Western models by huge amounts, ownership of storied European brands such as Lotus and Volvo, or ownership and access to the vast majority of raw materials that go into EV cars, its influence is far-reaching and deep. However, this automotive enlightenment hasn't manifested itself in the classic world in any meaningful way - until now.
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