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Porsche and the US www.porscheroadandrace.com Porsche and the US Published: 17th April 2020 By: Kieron Fennelly Online version: https://www.porscheroadandrace.com/porsche-and-the-us/ Porsche 356 Cabriolet competing at an aerodrome race in the USA, ca. 1952/1953 America has for decades been Porsche’s biggest market, and this was important for the young and growing company. In some ways, the importance of this market even influenced the development of certain models. In this feature, Porsche and the US, we look into that all- important relationship between Porsche and the American car-mad society. One of the surprises of the 1948 Geneva Show was an open two-seater from Porsche, previously known only as an automotive engineer. Viennese Max Hoffman, a former www.porscheroadandrace.com motorcycle racer, now a New York car dealer saw the potential for this neat sports car in America. In 1950, he imported three coupés. With new distributors in Belgium and France and a growing reputation as a purveyor of competitive road racers, Ferry Porsche was happy initially simply to have an outlet in the US. The #158 Porsche 356 Coupé on display at the 1953 New York Motor Show in Madison Square Garden. This car was driven by Fernando Segura in the Fourth Carrera Panamericana in Mexico (19-23 November 1953), and finished 33rd overall and second in the Sportscar 1600 class. The lovely lady holding the car’s registration plate is hostess Maya Denise www.porscheroadandrace.com The new showrooms for the Hoffman Motor Car Co., 56 Park Ave., New York (1954/1955). On display are a Porsche 356 Coupé, 356 Speedster and a 356 Cabriolet But Hoffman was much more ambitious: the 30 cars sold in the USA in 1951 became 600 in 1952 and Hoffman had no hesitation in telling Ferry what his cars needed to appeal to Americans. Hence the rapid development of the 1.5-litre engine from the original (and to American eyes, ridiculously small) 1131cc unit. Ferry took him seriously and despatched one of his right-hand men, Herbert Linge to manage customer service. Linge was soon joined by another Porsche stalwart, Rolf Wütherich who was beside Hollywood star James Dean in the Spyder when a car crashed into them, killing Dean and seriously injuring Wütherich. www.porscheroadandrace.com Herbert Linge stands with a Porsche 356 Speedster in front of a USAF fighter jet at the Langley Air Force Base in Virginia (1954/1955) www.porscheroadandrace.com The two Porsches are dwarfed by the American family estate – (from L-R) Chevrolet 2-door Station Wagon, 356 A Speedster and a 550 Spyder (1956) Hoffman who also imported Mercedes and Jaguar cars, understood US tastes – he had Porsche redesign the dash with a prominent rev counter in the centre, and at his suggestion, Ferry sketched what would become that great Porsche identity symbol, the Porsche crest. Pressure from Hoffman led to the 1954 Speedster, a minimal-equipment roadster which sold 5000 examples in four years; another Viennese expatriate John von Neumann, did for the West Coast what Hoffman achieved on the East. Von Neumann was also a racer and sold the 1500 RS (which Hoffman told Ferry to brand a ‘Spyder’, a name which was more enticing than a set of figures). Ritchie Ginther cut his teeth on a von Neumann car and other racers improved the output of the flat fours. Chevrolet engineer Zora Arkus-Duntov who raced the works 1100 RS at Le Mans in 1954 and 1955, persuaded www.porscheroadandrace.com Porsche of the virtues of anti-roll bars and to create a skid pan, which would ultimately lead to the establishment of the Weissach facility. By 1959, the US was taking 40 percent of all Porsches – Germany came next with 23 percent, and the company set up its US subsidiary, Porsche of America Corporation. Le Mans 24 Hours, 12-13 June 1954: In the foreground is the #47 Porsche 550 RS Spyder of Zora Arkus-Duntov and Gonzague Olivier which finished 14th overall and first in the Sportscar 1100 class. Behind is the #39 Porsche 550 RS Spyder of Johnny Claes and Pierre Stasse which finished 12th overall and first in the Sportscar 1500 class www.porscheroadandrace.com Le Mans 24 Hours, 11-12 June 1955: The #49 Porsche 550 RS Spyder driven by Auguste Veuillet and Zora Arkus-Duntov finished 13th overall and first in the first in the Sportscar 1100 class If in the 1950s Porsche learned to understand American preferences, as the 911 took over from the 356 C in the 1960s, a bigger challenge was posed by federal regulators. Following Ralph Nader’s infamous ‘Unsafe at any Speed’ it appeared that open cars could be banned; in the climate of uncertainty, Porsche designed the famous Targa Top, creating an enduringly successful 911 derivative; Porsche introduced the Sportomatic transmission for the US only to find take-up in Europe was greater. North American requirements would lead to the creation of two types of 911: the US version and the Rest of World (RoW) model. Initially the differences were detail, like the famous US eyebrow headlamps, but became more complex when catalytic converters became mandatory. For 30 years, harsher www.porscheroadandrace.com emissions controls would deprive Americans of a succession of the fastest Porsches, beginning with the Carrera RS 2.7, built only as a RoW car. Otherwise Porsche engineers coped successfully with federal exhaust pipe legislation which asphyxiated the American ‘muscle’ cars; meanwhile the controversial impact bumpers designed to meet US 5 mph crash regulations quickly became part of the 911’s character. www.porscheroadandrace.com Porsche 356 B Coupé on a PCA weekend meeting, Del Mar, 1963 www.porscheroadandrace.com 1974 Porsche 911 Carrera 2.7 (US model) – Ernst Fuhrmann (left) stands with a Porsche dealer However, concerns over the rear-engined 911s continued acceptability in the US threatened its long-term existence, and Porsche’s first non-family CEO, Ernst Fuhrmann believed the company should make a classic front-engined rear-drive sports car. To build this ‘better Chevrolet Corvette’, Porsche turned to its two designers who had worked at GM, Tony Lapine and Wolfgang Möbius. The result was the futuristic 928, a car which from any other manufacturer might have been an unqualified success, but because it came from a Porsche rooted in its rear-mounted air cooled flat six tradition, caused divisions both within the firm www.porscheroadandrace.com and among its fans. Porsche 928 Coupé (US model), 1980 By the time the 928 came to market, the external threat to the 911 had evaporated, but internally, an increasingly isolated Fuhrmann had terminated 911 development. This scenario changed rapidly under new CEO, American, Berlin-born Peter Schutz who brought his Cummins diesel engine salesman’s talents to bear, particularly in the US, and presided over an upswing in Porsche’s fortunes which saw a much needed 911 Cabrio join the Coupé and Targa. Schutz talked about buying a Porsche as buying into a lifestyle, where affluent www.porscheroadandrace.com owners drove their Porsches to the local airfield and took off in their private plane powered by an aviation version of the flat-six. It was a very Stateside vision which never quite made it into reality, for while attempting to break into the closed US aviation market was one challenge, sustaining US sales which by 1985 had increased four-fold in four years, was quite another. In fact, the dollar began to plummet and with it Porsche’s US profits to the point where by 1990, the company was only just solvent and rumours of takeover abounded. www.porscheroadandrace.com Porsche 911 Carrera 3.2 Cabriolet (US model), 1988 www.porscheroadandrace.com Porsche Flug Motor (PFM 3200) – Peter Schutz (left) christens the Porsche-engined aeroplane while Helmuth Bott (right) looks on, 1985 Porsche’s US woes seemed unending: Schutz’s reorganisation of the dealer network had caused acrimony as did Porsche’s withdrawal from the CART; the refusal of US customs to allow importation of the 959 for which clients had paid a hefty deposit was a further humiliating setback and contributed to the premature and costly termination of the 959. www.porscheroadandrace.com The 1992 Porsche 911 Carrera RS 3.6 America Coupé was powered by a 247 PS (182 kW) 3.6-litre engine, giving the car a top speed of 160 mph (260 km/h) The return to Porsche in 1991 of Wendelin Wiedeking would begin a slow upturn. After being deprived of the Turbo ‘till 1987, once again US customers were disappointed not to be able to get their hands on the 964 RS or 993 RS (neither US-crash tested). However, a specific US-only 911, the RS America, was created thanks partly to Vic Elford, doing much to boost 964 sales. In a market where forty percent of Porsche sales were open cars, the 1996 Boxster was acclaimed and held the fort until the Cabrio and Targa 996s appeared. By now Porsche was homologating models for over 70 markets, so the old RoW/US distinctions had lost relevance. Nevertheless, US enthusiasts could not import the 996 GT3 until 2004 – the last time Porsche’s most important market would be deprived of a 911 derivative. www.porscheroadandrace.com 2001 model Type 986 Boxster S (US model) www.porscheroadandrace.com 2003 Porsche 911 GT3 (Type 996) street version (US model) The commercial decision to build the Cayenne – Porsche needed to diversify and the SUV market was eight times bigger than the sports car market – went ahead only after wholesale support in the US for the Porsche 4×4 was confirmed.
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