The Porsche by Design: Seducing Speed exhibit is presently on display at the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh, North Carolina through January 20, 2014. The largest gathering of Porsche automobiles ever on display in a U.S. art museum features a stunning selection of 22 Porsches dating from the late 1930s to present day.
Curated by Ken Gross from some of the most renowned car collectors and collections in the automotive world, the iconic vehicles in Porsche by Design: Seducing Speed show the evolution of the signature design principles that have long linked Porsche with beauty, artistry, technology and innovation. Barbara Wiedemann, director of publications at NCMA, served as managing curator for the Museum’s first-ever design exhibition.
“Porsche by Design brings together one of the most significant collections of Porsche automobiles ever assembled,” said Ken Gross. “More than ‘just a show about cars’, the exhibition emphasizes the innate beauty of aerodynamic design, inseparably linked with engineering genius. It further illustrates the Porsche family’s ability to stay true, over many decades, to a powerful design history while remaining on the forefront of technological advances, continually driving automobile design forward. These cars are superlative examples of uncompromised, artfully restrained design, lending visual form and grace to the notion of speed.”
Highlights of the exhibition include the 1938/9 Type 64 Berlin-Rom racer designed by Porsche founder Dr. Ferdinand Porsche; a Type 804 Formula One race car, one of only four of this model ever built, and the car that Dan Gurney raced to victory at the French Grand Prix; Porsche 550-001, the first 550 built and raced; Steve McQueen’s iconic Porsche 356 Speedster; an early Gmund Coupe; the 1977 Porsche 935 “Baby” and the 1969 Porsche 917 16-cylinder Prototype.
The Porsche by Design: Seducing Speed exhibit is on display at the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh, North Carolina through January 20, 2014. Admission is free for members and $18.00 for adults. Visitors 7-18 are $12 and children 6 and under are admitted free of charge. During the run of Porsche by Design, the Museum will offer multiple car meetups, film series, lectures and other special events. For additional information, visit www.ncartmuseum.org/porsche.
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We split up pictures from the Porsche by Design: Seducing Speed exhibition into two galleries. The first gallery starting below features our favorite images, all displayed in the full-width view of Sports Car Digest, while the second gallery can be found on the last page of the article and gives a comprehensive view of all the photographs.
Porsche by Design: Seducing Speed – Featured Photo Gallery
1960 Porsche Type 718 RS60, Bowman Motors – This is one of twelve to fourteen customer RS60s built. In the hands of its first owner, Bill Wuesthoff, it placed in the top three in the under-1500 cc class in seventeen races and won its class twelve times in four years.1960 Porsche Type 718 RS60, Bowman Motors1963 Porsche 901 Prototype, Don and Diane Meluzio – Before official production began, the 901 designation was changed to 911 because of a legal claim by Peugeot. This signal red coupe is the only survivor of thirteen prototypes used to develop the 911. The hand-built car has bare rocker panels, plain flat hubcaps and VW Bettle-like twin exhausts.1963 Porsche 901 Prototype, Don and Diane Meluzio
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1968 Porsche 908K Prototype, Cameron Healy and Susan Snow – Chassis 908-010 was a factory Porsche race car, and it’s thought to be one of five short-tail prototypes exant. It was one of two examples raced at the 1,000 km of Spa in May 1968, co-driven by Vic Elford and Jochen Neerpasch.1968 Porsche 908K Prototype, Cameron Healy and Susan SnowPorsche by Design: Seducing Speed Exhibit1974 Porsche 911 Carrera RSR IROC, William ‘Chip’ Connor – This car, chassis number 0075, originally delivered in Mexico Blue, was raced in the 1974 IROC series by Hulme, McCluskey and Pearson. Found with its original IROC engine, 0075 was restored by Hill and Vaughn, the Aase Brothers and Charles Folkes.
Porsche by Design: Seducing Speed – Featured Photo Gallery Page Two
1960 Porsche 356B 1600 Carrera GTL Abarth Coupe and 1958 Porsche 356 Speedster 1600 Super1960 Porsche Type 356B 1600 Carrera GTL Abarth Coupe, Ingram Collection – Handcrafted in Milan by Zagaato, this car, the eighth Abarth Carrera GTL built, has the first 693/3A engine. It was purchased by Carl-Gunnar Hammarlund, a Swedish amateur racing and rally driver who won two Swedish Grand Touring Championships in this car. With just under 11,000 miles, this car retains all its original panels and engine.1958 Porsche 356 Speedster 1600 Super, Chad McQueen Collection – Steve McQueen’s iconic Porsche Speedster is synonymous with the late Golden Age in Hollywood. McQueen purchased the car in 1958, raced it in SCCA competition, and drove it for years. He sold it, and eventually bought it back from collector Bruce Meyer.1990 Porsche 962C, William ‘Chip’ Connor – Chassis 146 competed with the Vern Schuppan Racing Team. Driven by many noted drivers, including Hurley Haywood, Wayne Taylor, James Weaver, Roland Ratzenberger and Scott Brayton, it competed twice at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and raced at the 1992 Daytona 24 Hours. It is presented in its 1991 Le Mans livery.
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1953 Porsche 550 Prototype and 1965 Porsche 904/61953 Porsche 550 Prototype, Collier Collection – This car, serial number 550-01, competed as a roadster in its initial race at the Nurburgring, driven to victory by Helmut “Helm” Glockler. At Le Mans that year, driver Hans Hermann joined Glockler in 550-01, and a pair of driver-journalists drove 550-02. Both coupes crossed the finish line at the same interval at which they started, but Le Mans scorers abhor a tie, so the class win was awarded to 550-02. After a five-year restoration, 550-01 won Best of Show Concours de Sport at the 2005 Amelia Island Concours.1953 Porsche 550 Prototype, Collier Collection1953 Porsche 550 Prototype, Collier Collection
Porsche by Design: Seducing Speed – Featured Photo Gallery Page Three
1949 Porsche 356 Gmund Coupe, Ingram Collection – This rare early Porsche, serial number 356/2-017, one of the oldest known Gmund Coupes extant, is the seventeenth of about fifty built.1949 Porsche 356 Gmund Coupe, Ingram Collection – A handcrafted 1949 Gmünd coupe designed by Dr. Porsche’s son “Ferry” Porsche, one of about 50 aluminum-bodied sports cars from the first Porsche “factory,” a converted sawmill in Gmünd, Austria1988 Porsche 959 and 2005 Porsche Type 980 Carrera GT1988 Porsche 959, Ralph Lauren Collection
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1965 Porsche 904/6, Cameron Healy and Susan Snow – this car is one of six two-liter, six-cylinder prototypes built in 1965 as Porsche factory racers. This car, serial number 906-011, was driven by Gerhardt Mitter in the 1965 Le Mans trials. That year it finished ninth at the 1,000 km of Nurburgring and third at the Grand Prix of Solitude.2010 Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid Race Car, Porsche Museum1938/9 Type 64 Berlin-Rom Racer1989 Porsche Panamericana Concept Car, Porsche Museum – For his 80th birthday, Ferry Porsche received the Panamericana, a radical but drivable design study leading to the modern 911, albeit with hints of speedboat, dune buggy and race car thrown in. The Panamericana debuted at the 1989 Frankfurt Motor Show.
Porsche by Design: Seducing Speed – Featured Photo Gallery Page Four
1971 Porsche 917K, Collier Collection – This car, serial number 917-019, raced for Porsche Salzburg in 1970. In 1971 it competed with Louise Piech’s Martini Racing Team. The Piech/Martini team won Le Mans (in another 917), and the John Wyer Racing team won everything else, capturing the 1971 World Sports Car Championship.1971 Porsche 917K, Collier Collection1969 Porsche 917 16-cylinder Prototype, Porsche Museum – The flat-sixteen engine could be built in four displacements: 6.0, 6.6, 6.7 and 7.2 liters, with power ratings as high as 880 horsepower. Thanks to the use of aluminum, carbon fiber and titanium, the massive engines weighed just 706 pounds each.1968 Porsche 908K and 1990 Porsche 962C
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1962 Porsche 804 Formula One, Ranson Webster – This is the winning car that Dan Gurney drove to victory at Porsche’s first Grand Prix race in Rouen, France. Soon afterward, at Solitude, Gurney won the race in the same car after setting a new lap record. Jo Bonnier finished second, giving Porsche a 1-2 finish. The Type 804 is powered by a 1.5-Liter flat eight cylinder engine with a magnesium crankcase and alloy twin-cam heads producing 180 hp at 9,200 rpm. Two other 804s survive, one in the Porsche Museum and the other in the Donington Collection.1962 Porsche 804 Formula One, Ranson Webster1977 Porsche 935 “Baby”, Porsche Museum – In 1977 German National Television announced it would only cover the Division II race at the Norisring, where BMW and Ford were battling. With its larger displacement, the normal 935 was ineligible, but the formula also permitted a smaller engine and a lower weight of 1,700 pounds. Porsche engineers built a special engine for what would be the lightest 911 ever, weighing in at 1,650 pounds. Much of its steel chassis was replaced with a tubular aluminum space-frame. The gas pedal and gear lever were titanium. The experimental 935 was nicknamed “Baby,” and it was so light that the engineers had to add weight to meet the minimum. At the Norisring, the “Baby” and Jacky Ickx suffered from record heat. Porsche skipped the next round and prepared for the DRM support race at the 1977 German Grand Prix, where Ickx beat the Fords and BMWs and set the fastest lap. Having proven its point, Porsche retired the victorious “Baby.”Porsche by Design: Seducing Speed Exhibit
Porsche by Design: Seducing Speed – Main Photo Gallery (click image for larger picture and description)
1990 Porsche 962C
Porsche by Design: Seducing Speed Exhibit
Porsche by Design: Seducing Speed Exhibit
1962 Porsche 804 Formula One
1960 Porsche 356B 1600 Carrera GTL Abarth Coupe
1960 Porsche 356B 1600 Carrera GTL Abarth Coupe
2010 Porsche 911 Sport Classic Carrera
1963 Porsche 901
1964 Porsche 356C Carrera 2 Coupe
1960 Porsche 718 RS60
1960 Porsche 718 RS60
1963 Porsche 901
1963 Porsche 901
1960 Porsche 718 RS60
1974 Porsche 911 Carrera RSR IROC
1974 Porsche 911 Carrera RSR IROC
1968 Porsche 908K
1990 Porsche 962C
1960 Porsche 718 RS60
1965 Porsche 904/6
1953 Porsche 550 Prototype
1953 Porsche 550 Prototype
1949 Porsche 356 Gmund Coupe
1949 Porsche 356 Gmund Coupe
1953 Porsche 550 Prototype
1953 Porsche 550 Prototype
1958 Porsche 356 Speedster 1600 Super
1953 Porsche 550 Prototype
1953 Porsche 550 Prototype
1965 Porsche 904/6
1960 Porsche 356B 1600 Carrera GTL Abarth Coupe
1953 Porsche 550 Prototype
1953 Porsche 550 Prototype
2010 Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid Race Car
2010 Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid Race Car
2005 Porsche Type 980 Carrera GT
1998 Porsche 959
1989 Porsche Panamericana Concept Car
1988 Porsche 959 and 2005 Porsche Type 980 Carrera GT
1988 Porsche 959 and 2005 Porsche Type 980 Carrera GT
Excellent, thanks for putting this up! Also go to the Museums website and look at the short videos! They are really nice with some good vintage footage.
This is a fantastic show and a must for any Porsche owner, past or present. After 25 years without one I bought my 7th Porsche two weeks after visiting the show!