HISTORY OF THE 911 GEARBOX

‘Transmitting power from the 911’s flat six engine to its rear axle for nearly 60 years, the Porsche gearbox has evolved significantly, as Total 91] discovers...

- Kieron Fennelly

In the beginning, the Gmünd Coupes used unmodified suspension and running gear directly from the VW Beetle. By 1951 the Porsche-developed VW flat four was beginning to overwhelm non-synchromesh VW cogs and so Porsche designed a four-speed Typ 519 gearbox with Leopold Schmid leading the project. This unusual application placed the five-speed constant mesh gearbox between the engine and the final drive, and featured Porsche Synchromesh technology.

Ferry’s engineers applied this to the Typ 519, which they offered to VW. They were turned down by Wolfsburg in favour of the Borg Warner design used by Opel. The gearbox became the first major component that Porsche had to find elsewhere. It turned to Getrag in Ludwigsburg, a builder of truck gearboxes, which initially struggled with the miniaturisation required for cars, so Zuffenhausen had to construct its own gearbox assembly and test rig – a task overseen by a young Helmuth Bott.

As Porsche intended, the 519 all-synchro unit had considerable commercial possibilities because it was so much easier to use than traditional ‘crash boxes’. By the late 1950s, revenue from 70 various gearbox patents had become an important part of Porsche’s income. In 1958 Leopold improved the 519, making first easier to engage and speeding up synchronisation to reduce the possibility of the gearbox jamming in gear. By 1970, licensees were building one million ‘Porsche Synchromesh’ gearboxes a year. As Porsche began planning the 356’s successor, it became clear that while the rear engine principle would remain, the car would have an entirely new body, engine and running gear.