In just over 20 years
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MotorTranscript
00:00 [LAUGHTER]
00:01 I can't believe this is happening.
00:03 I just can't believe they're letting me do this.
00:05 [LAUGHTER]
00:07 [CAR ENGINE]
00:14 Hi there.
00:15 This is it, the original, the originator, the car that
00:20 launched over a million 911s.
00:22 It's called the 901.
00:24 And we'll get to why it's called that in a minute.
00:25 But look at it.
00:27 Way back in the beginning, everything was already there.
00:30 That classic shape, the big headlights, a rear-mounted
00:34 pancake Boxer 6 motor, tiny little back seat.
00:38 Everything was there.
00:39 And it's still there today.
00:41 Look, this is the 911 they launched in 2019, the 992.
00:46 Things have changed, that's for sure.
00:48 Water-cooled, 450 horsepower, two turbo chargers, all-wheel
00:52 drive, and the crazy part is the engine.
00:55 Porsche made a 911 that did all that 33 years ago.
00:59 They just called it the 959.
01:01 And here it is, Porsche's first supercar.
01:05 To me, the crazy part, though, is that in just over 20 years,
01:09 they went from this to this.
01:11 So much evolution, so much technology.
01:14 How did they do that?
01:16 Let's find out.
01:18 [CAR ENGINE]
01:20 Driving a Porsche 901.
01:22 That's where it all began, man.
01:25 It's crazy.
01:27 They've made over and sold over a million 911s.
01:31 A lot of you probably know the story that Porsche, they
01:34 needed to replace the, at that point, very old 356.
01:38 And they wanted something with a six-cylinder engine.
01:40 That was going to be this car called the 901.
01:43 So Peugeot, they saw the car, and they said, hey, listen,
01:47 Porsche, blank zero, zero, zero.
01:50 Blank, zero, blank.
01:53 That's kind of how we name cars.
01:54 We'd appreciate it if you didn't call it 901.
01:57 And there was never a lawsuit or anything like that.
02:01 They just made the decision that they were going to call
02:04 their new car the 911.
02:06 However, the first 242 cars sold, I believe is the number,
02:11 were actually badged as 901s.
02:16 This car.
02:17 So rewind the clock back to October 22, 1964.
02:25 They built three cars that day.
02:28 This is the third car built that day.
02:30 So it's the last one built.
02:31 That's also the day that Ferry Porsche, Fernand
02:34 Porsche's son, decided, you know what?
02:37 Let's not fight with the French.
02:39 Peugeot gets their way.
02:40 We're going to change the name from the 901 to the 911.
02:44 Meaning this thing I'm driving around Sonoma Raceway is the
02:48 very last 901 ever built.
02:53 How about them apples?
02:54 [LAUGHS]
02:57 It's just a multi-purpose sports car.
03:00 Still have the--
03:01 the front opens up, puts stuff in there.
03:03 So it's really, in a lot of ways, the birth of the modern
03:08 sports car, way back in the '60s.
03:11 So what if we were to hop into something still a 911, but--
03:19 well, it's the Porsche 959.
03:21 So let's check that thing out.
03:23 [MUSIC PLAYING]
03:26 Oh, it's so good.
03:29 [LAUGHS]
03:32 Look, I've been doing this professionally for 15 years
03:35 now, and that entire time, I've been
03:38 waiting to drive a 959.
03:40 I've been waiting most of my life, and I'm driving it.
03:45 Almost a tear to my eye, maybe if I wasn't on camera.
03:48 So when this car came out, it was the
03:52 fastest car in the world.
03:53 It could go 197 miles an hour.
03:55 So it's 444 horsepower, sequential turbo.
03:58 So it has a little turbo that kind of runs the whole time.
04:01 And then when you crest 5,000 RPMs, which--
04:05 let's do that right now--
04:07 the other turbo kicks in.
04:08 And it's not-- it doesn't kick.
04:10 It's not like an old Saab, where it's like, ba-boom.
04:13 It's not this crazy lag thing.
04:14 It's just like a more powerful force takes you over.
04:19 And it's just awesome.
04:23 And again, 450 horsepower.
04:26 The new 992 has 450 horsepower.
04:29 That's how long it's taken the 911 to catch up to the 959.
04:33 And that's-- yes, the base car still makes less than this
04:36 thing did back in 1986.
04:39 It's crazy.
04:41 And it's a sweetheart to drive.
04:43 The car was all-wheel drive, too, which was new and very
04:46 different for a supercar.
04:48 No one was doing that.
04:49 Oh, that power.
04:55 When that turbo comes on--
04:58 right, right.
04:58 Back to what makes this car so special.
05:00 So they just rewrote all the rules with this thing.
05:04 Money was no object.
05:05 Look, when this car was new, the price back then was $225,000.
05:13 So in today's money, that's $530,000.
05:17 And Porsche still lost a half million bucks on
05:20 every one they sold.
05:21 That's how advanced this car was.
05:23 The body is-- there's some aluminum, but there's also
05:26 Kevlar, some other bulletproof material.
05:30 The floor is Nomex.
05:32 I mean, it's just a spaceship.
05:33 This is the equivalent of if, I don't know, the NASA museum
05:38 let me take the Saturn V out.
05:40 That's how advanced this thing was at the time.
05:43 And now, after doing a couple laps here at Sonoma Raceway,
05:51 it's just so good.
05:53 Life is so good.
05:55 Oh, man.
05:57 Oh, man.
05:58 What a world.
05:59 [LAUGHTER]
06:04 Give me that turbo.
06:05 [LAUGHTER]
06:08 Oh, yeah.
06:12 So that's the Porsche 959.
06:15 Came a long way from the 901.
06:20 That was like the best 10 minutes of my life.
06:22 [LAUGHTER]