25 wistjedatjes

Porsche for Dummies – Part 4

At Porsche in Zuffenhausen, everybody knows that the Jorg Muffler isn’t something Grandmother wears around her neck. You’d like to know a thing or two about Porsche?

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Redstart[/b]. “’Phoenicurus ochruros’ is actually a Black Redstart from the family of flycatchers. Their diet consists mainly of insects. The song of the black redstart is characteristic, since the middle part is more like a scratching sound…“ – is Wikipedia really describing a bird here? It could also be the 550 Spyder RS 1500 model with its redpainted rear fenders, the last Porsche Spyder with a swing axle. It too killed insects on the racetracks of the world, and it’s best not to even mention scratching noises.
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Smuggling Compartment[/b]. If you want to hear (good) stories, ask a customs officer sometime. Even hard-bitten officers don’t know all the secret places where smugglers hide their goods. It was never planned for Porsche to make a contribution to this doubtful trade: The space in the trunk floor of the 911 for the optional heater, for example, is ideal for making one or the other cigarette disappear. And so it got the nickname “smuggling compartment“. In the meantime, there are even more options – such as the spare wheel compartment in the SUV. But don’t get your hopes up: Customs knows these hiding places too…

Safety Finger. Normally, a Porsche 928 automatic driver doesn’t want anybody fingering around in his Porsche, and certainly not especially dexterously long fingers. But there is one finger he’ll tolerate, for it comes from Zuffenhausen, was supplied as standard and is there to save the day: It’s a small locking piston at the automatic selector lever to prevent the position R or P from being selected when driving forward, thus keeping the gear ensemble from becoming finger food.
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Sebring Exhaust[/b]. No wonder that the exhaust manufacturer Sebring from Voitsberg/Austria named its sports facilities after the course in Florida – it sounds like history, power, exoticism. In 1963, the first optional exhaust leaves the Sebring plant, and is screwed to the bottom of a Steyr Fiat 1100. It set a trend, Sebring expanded and in the 50s and 60s of the last century, it supplied special mufflers for the four-cylinder models of Porsche as well. What’s so special? The Sebring exhaust condenses the exhaust gases from a quad fan in a tailpipe with a powerfully protruding profile.

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Taxi[/b]. If you order a taxi at Porsche in Zuffenhausen, this doesn’t necessarily mean you’re looking for the minimum four-door passenger transport vehicle that, for a fee, brings passengers from point A to B at a modest pace as relaxed as possible. A “taxi“ at Porsche is instead the exact opposite: A car with two doors or less, which brings one passenger (who may or may not be paying) from point A to A at a breakneck speed with as much adrenaline as possible, i.e. in a circle. This is because the term “taxi“ refers to a race car in which a second seat is installed, so that in the future, it can take racing fans who aren’t allowed to take the wheel themselves for a ride down the track. For example, the decommissioned 917 in bright red livery, which is used for visitor rides on the test track at Weissach.

Telephone Booth. Granted, not all that Porsche builds and built is a perfectly shaped piece of design. But this was also because some cars are pure research vehicles, prototypes or external orders where certain techniques or the like are tried out. This also includes the EA266 prototype, a compact car for VW from the year 1968. Due to its large glass surfaces, it quickly acquired the nickname “phone booth“. In fact, it was initially planned with an underfloor engine as the successor of the VW Beetle. Nobody resents Porsche because instead of the EA266, it became the Golf. Or do they?

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VoPo[/b]. Originally a “Vopo“ was a “people’s police-man“ (Volkspolizist) in the walled-off German brother country. He was about as popular there as a fan-shop of the Federal Ministry of Finance in the West. Is it possible that this ulterior motive played a part when the VW Porsche 914 (built 1969-1975) also was called VoPo? Or was it just an abbreviation for “People’s Porsche“ (Volksporsche), because there was suddenly a low-cost option to drive a Porsche? The fact is: 911 riders distinctly turned up their noses at the sight of the Wolfsburg/Zuffenhausen co-production. Nevertheless, the model powered by an air-cooled boxer engine was built nearly 120,000 times from 1969 to 1976, most of the four-cylinder 914/4s (80 hp) at Karmann, all of the six-cylinder models 914/6 (110 hp) at Porsche. It was the first mass-produced mid-engine vehicle.

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Weissach Axle[/b]. Things could’ve been so easy once upon a time: The rear suspensions with toe-in correction of the Porsche 928 were of course developed in the Plasticine Kitchen (see >P) – obviously, they received the name Weissach axle. Really? No, not really – the word comes from the functional designation “Winkel einstellende selbst stabilisierende Ausgleichs-Charakteristik“ (toe-setting self-stabilizing compensation characteristics). At least somebody was paying attention…

»Windhund« or Greyhound. It’s Maundy Thursday, April 6th, 1950. For the first time, a Porsche 356 rolls out of the plant in Stuttgart. Its salient features include the split windscreen and the fixed glazed rear window. No Porsche logo is on it – it wasn’t designed until 1952/53. On the front and rear, therefore, there was the “Porsche“ lettering. The interior was dominated by a white three-spoke steering wheel made of bakelite. What has all this to do with the nickname “Greyhound“ for the first Stuttgart Porsche? No idea. Some things are better left a mystery…

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»Zigeuner-Verdeck« [/b]or the Gypsy Top. Even if it might have been a better idea at the end of the Second World War to respectfully refer to all ethnic groups, some terms just couldn’t be banned from linguistic usage. This included the term for the “wandering people“: Gypsy. They usually had no roof over their head – thus the term “Gypsy top“ for the Spartan emergency cover with which the Porsche 356/Type 1 (1948) and later the Speedster were equipped. It is doubtful whether the 356 drivers of the time also referred to the weather protection of their more or less treasured Porsches in the same way…

Porsche for Dummies – Part 2

At Porsche the Jorg Muffler isn’t something Grandmother wears around her neck: The Porsche glossary for insiders – Part 2.

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“Entenbürzel“[/b] or the Ducktail. The advertising slogan for the Porsche Carrera 2.7 RS of 1972/73 was already an insult: “Only 500 men are going to drive it…“ To put it differently: In Zuffenhausen, they prayed that indeed 500 pieces of this lightweight version of the 911, which was rather expensive at the time, would be sold. They had to produce it, though, in order to meet homologation rules. But the car was actually too hot for the street: To make sure it didn’t lift off, Porsche equipped the 2.7 RS with aerodynamic devices at the front and rear. It was the first time Porsche did so. The “Entenbürzel“ – a short ducktail rear spoiler – was mainly in charge of the power take-off. Customers were crazy for this erect poultry’s behind – Porsche eventually sold 1,525 units. And offered an excuse to the angered first 500 customers: “Sorry, we forgot about the ladies…“

E.T. He was the movie star of 1982, the stuffed animal of an entire generation and to this day, probably the only bicycle-flying “extra-terrestrial“ in the universe: E.T. With the movie of the same name and its protagonist, Steven Spielberg created the prototype of a cuddly alien, a crooked creature with long and meager fingers. One of his fingers comes with an embedded flashlight, which he points towards outer space in a tear-jerking scene while muttering the words “phone home“ to understanding kids. That was a long time ago, so it might be unclear why this was the reason for a Porsche part to be called “E.T“ – yet there’s an explanation: Just like E.T.’s finger, the raised, snorkel-like third brake lamp looms out of the rear of the Porsche 911 starting in the year of manufacture 1986 in order to lift the additional brake light above the rear spoiler. Phoning home never really worked with it, though.

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Ferdinand[/b]. Ok, it’s not unusual to call a Porsche “Ferdinand“. That was the name of the founder and his son, too (to make the distinction easier, however, the latter was mostly called “Ferry“), as well as the son of the son (with the byname Alexander, nicknamed »Butzi«). Ferdinand’s granduncle and Ferdinand’s grandson and Ferdinand’s nephew were called Ferdinand. The latter, however, (again) had an -Alexander that followed. With so many Ferdinands around, it’s no surprise that a car of one of these Ferdinands went by the same name – the black coupe Ferdinand. It was the birthday present for Ferdinand Porsche when he turned 75. After the death of his owner, it became one of the first test cars from Zuffenhausen. The Ferdinand made from sheet metal was born in 1950 and was never sold. Instead, it solidly ran for more than 300,000 kilometers on behalf of the company and is now enjoying retirement at the Porsche Museum.

Fuchs Rims. The Fuchs company based in Meinerzhagen probably had no idea that they were actually winning the jackpot when they received the commission from Porsche in the mid-1960s to produce forged alloy rims, at first only for the sportiest model, the Porsche 911 S. The now legendary clover leaf design was penned by Porsche designer Heinrich Klie, who later also gave the 914 its unique shape: five wide spokes, which were initially blank and a black rim star background. Later, the entire rim star was black. With a size of 15 inches, they adorned the 911 S as of 1966 and later also the 916/6 and the 944. They were part of the program until 1989. In 1992, the protection of the registered design expired, and we now have many rims similar to the ones by Fuchs. But only this one is the real one.

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Grandmother.[/b] Grandmothers who are referred to as “grandmother“ are said to be kindhearted, wise and experienced. Okay, hardly any Porsche car has ever been kind-hearted, wise only if the driver was, but experienced, that’s certainly something a Porsche could handle. One model in particular: the Porsche 718 W-RS Spyder. And indeed, for a race car, the lifetime of the open 2-liter, 8-cylinder Porsche was practically biblical, racing from 1961 to 1964. In 1963, it won its class at the Targa Florio in Sicily. The Grandmother won the European Mountain Championship twice. Granted, with an age of 4 years, Porsche’s Grandmother is certainly the youngest grandma of all times – but in car years…

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Hutch[/b]. Nobody really handed down whether rabbits were ever transported in the lockable compartments of the 911. The fact is: If you did without the backseats, the special requests department in Zuffenhausen gave you a luggage rack with two lockable compartments instead. These were referred to as the “Hasenstall“ (rabbit hutch) from then on. But it might also be that the inventor was simply named “Hase“…

Hippie. 1970 – right after Woodstock and things were still dope, bright colors, rebellion against the establishment, euphoria vs. theory, chill instead of kill. Porsche showed momentary solidarity – with the “Hippie“, a long-tail Porsche 917 with a pop paint job, which stirred up the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1971. Willi Kauhsen and Gerard Larousse were grooving behind the wheel and came in second. By the way, Porsche designers Anatole Lapine and Dick Söderberg were inspired to this highly original design by the dress of a secretary. The psychedelic pattern of her attire obviously left a wicked impression.

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Indy Engine[/b]. In 1980, an Interscope singleseater with a Porsche engine was created for the Indianapolis 500. The V6 turbo engine with watercooled four-valve heads was taken from the legendary 935/78 Moby Dick and was the only 911 engine that reached a rated speed of 9,000 rpm. In terms of output, too, the Indy engine was superlative: 904 hp. After the Indy project was prematurely discontinued in 1980, the modified engine found its way into the 936 Spyder in 1981 and won Le Mans.

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Jörg Muffler[/b]. You’ve heard of perforated, louvered, and chambered mufflers, but none of them comes close to the Jörg muffler. It was developed by Porsche workshop manager Jörg Walter, who was trying to figure out how to bring the Porsche soul to boil. This wise man came up with a sports exhaust system that consisted of a muffler with two long tailpipes. The result: fat sound, great look. Jörg for ever.

met de 928 was porsche niet aan z’n V8 proefstuk toe: