Porsche 901
Porsche 901 was the name originally intended for the Porsche 911.
By the early 1960s, Porsche project design numbers had reached into the 800s. For instance, Porsche's 1962 F1 model was called Porsche 804.
At the
The 901 was renamed after French car maker Peugeot objected to Porsche using any three digit number where the middle number was 0, asserting ownership of the naming rights in key markets, and having already sold many models with that scheme. Porsche responded by simply replacing the middle 0 with a 1, calling the car the Porsche 911.[3] This also affected other Porsche models, which were primarily intended for racing but also sold as road legal cars. In those cases, Porsche kept the internal part number of 90x, but used a unique name for marketing, selling the Porsche 904 as the Carrera GTS and the Porsche 906 as the Carrera 6. Porsche enthusiasts continue to refer to these cars by their three digit design numbers.
Later, Porsche introduced pure racing cars which were not sold for road use, and did not compete with any road-going Peugeot. These carried the design numbers Porsche 907, Porsche 908, and Porsche 909. Additionally, the 901 number is used among Porsche enthusiasts as shorthand to identify the aluminum five-speed transmission used in early 911s; the part number for these transmissions used an 11 digit code that began with 901 as did many other parts on the early cars. Later 911s from 1969 used a different magnesium case and a part number beginning with 911.
References
- ^ Auto Motor u. Sport. Heft 25 2010: Seite 27. 18 November 2010.
- ^ Rare Porsche 901 Visits Beverly Hills Porsche Showroom, www.beverlyhillsporsche.com, as archived at web.archive.org
- ^ "Porsche 901 - Porsche AG". www.porsche.com. Retrieved 2022-05-19.