Back in 1948, Porsche built the 356 Nr. 1, its first prototype. And it was good. Then, in 1952, Porsche built the 356 1500 America Roadster. It, too, was good. Then came the 356 Speedster. Then in 1988, the Porsche 911 Speedster. In 2010, Porsche made yet another 911 Speedster. These were all good, as fast, drop-top Porsches tend to be. Seeing this trend of Good Cars, Porsche has now added the new Porsche 911 Speedster Concept to the lineage, celebrating the 70 years that have passed since the 356 Nr. 1.
In keeping with that lineage, the new concept is a drop-top with sleeker styling. The windshield, for instance, is much more aggressively raked than a standard 911 convertible. The rear “double bubble” decklid is made from carbon fiber and stretches from the rear light to the back headrests of the seats and conceals the car’s roll bars. There’s no convertible top here, just a removable tonneau roof only meant to be used when the car is stationary.
As an homage to the pure, lightweight Speedsters of Porsche’s past, the concept’s innards are simple compared to most modern 911s you see on the road. The engine, for example, is the 500 horsepower, naturally-aspirated 4.0-liter flat six from the 911 GT3; that’s connected to a six-speed manual gearbox. The interior actually doesn’t have any infotainment system, radio or air conditioning, leaving a gaping hole in the dash. Good.
Right now the car is just a concept, but it’s a driveable one at that and one that doesn’t look terribly far off from production reality. So while right now there are no explicit plans to bring the car into production there’s a faint glimmer of hope that it possibly could if there’s enough interest from the individuals well-heeled enough to actually afford one.
The best way to catch up on the day’s most important product releases and stories. Read the Story
