There are lines that are so iconic and so identifiable that they are engraved in the collective memory that they create a soul.

To touch them would be sacrilege!

Yet this is what will happen with the legendary Porsche 911 line. We are in the 60s, the Porsche company releases the 901 quickly renamed 911 because of Peugeot's resentment towards the commitment of Ferdinand Porsche during the Second World War who was involved in the management of Peugeot's production apparatus, the 911 comes from the work of Ferdinand Alexander Porsche (grandson of Ferdinand Porsche and design director within the family business), also known by the nickname "Butzi".

The Porsche 911 equipped with its Flat6 engine will then become an icon among sports cars, it shakes up the codes and becomes like its cousin the Volkswagen Beetle an icon.
The Porsche 901 is presented to the public at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 1963, it will be renamed 911 for the 1964 model year. The new car was sold alongside the 356C as an alternative with more power and space for a rear seat.

The 911 is therefore a 2+2 sports car synonymous with 2 honorary rear seats that has more room to place its golf clubs or handbag than two young children, which is completely in line with its positioning.
But in the 60s, the 911 was the only commercial model in the Porsche range (with the 912, the same but with a 4-cylinder engine intended mainly for the American market), to survive it is necessary to sell more cars, so Porsche is looking for more customers and therefore it must expand its customer base. The solution, to offer the young family more space to offer two real rear seats to finally be able to put real big children, or even adults, the 911 will have to offer in addition to its 2+2 models, a real 4 seater.
As a result, in 1969 Porsche asked the Pininfarina carrozzeria. Yet Porsche does not usually call on a design office to design its cars, but Porsche engineers were too busy working on other projects.
Tackling the curves of the legendary Porsche 911 to lengthen it and make it a 4-seater is not an easy thing, but a priori no challenge scares the wizard Pininfarina.
Pininfarina is at the time the most fashionable design office. Co-founded and directed in 1930 by Gian-Battista Pinin Farina and Gaspare Bona, it is known and recognized for having given the most beautiful curves to Italians including Ferrari, it did not take less to find Porsche's confidence to retouch its flagship model.

Pininfarina as well as Porsche noticed at the time the success of the Jaguar Type E, a real 2+2, capable of effectively countering the offer of the German manufacturer, especially on the American market.
To create this long-awaited four-seater 911 B17, Porsche sent an S2 series to the Pininfarina workshops. Intervening in the chassis, the wheelbase was extended to two meters and forty-six centimeters. In this way, 192 millimeters were gained behind the B pillar to offer a passenger cell capable of accommodating four adults. Perfect for incorporating the rear seats, in which black leather and an enveloping design for passengers were widely used. In addition, the rear was redesigned, modifying as little as possible the traditional drop of the 911.
Inside, no major revolutions: it is very similar to that of a normal Porsche 911 Coupé with black leather upholstery, both front and rear. Only the rim space for the rear passengers was significantly increased as well as the headroom.
The car was completed in the fall of 1969 and is designated by Porsche under the code name B 17.
This large Porsche 911 was equipped with a Boge Hydromat front suspension and Boge shock absorbers at the rear. It also received 15 mm diameter anti-roll bars. Pininfarina kept the Fuchs rims in 6 x 14 and mounted Michelin XAS tires in 185 VR 14. The large tinted taillights are specific to this prototype. The car was painted dark blue with the 911 S and Porsche lettering on the engine cover at the rear. Weighing 1135 kg, the Porsche 911 Pininfarina was really too heavy (compared to a production 911). In addition, the weight was poorly distributed on the car with 39% of the weight at the front and 61% at the rear with the engine. Finally, the turning circle of the car, of 11.7 m, was also unacceptable. Porsche was very dissatisfied with its road behavior and its unharmonious line. The Porsche 911 B17 created by Pininfarina was not to the taste of the Stuttgart house, the Pininfarina Porsche 911 B17 project was shelved.
In short, Porsche was not at all satisfied with this prototype, the company no longer uses an external company to design its cars. Many tests were conducted internally at Porsche with this car before putting it away in a corner.
The Porsche B 17 Pininfarina was then sold (which is rare for a prototype) in November 1972 for DM 27,750 to Leopold von Raffay, then owner of the large Porsche dealership in Hamburg (Porsche Zentrum Raffay) and who had long had very good relations with Porsche. He loved Porsches and wanted to have it in his private collection.
In 1975, the Porsche 911 B 17 was reborn with a new appearance in terms of design, chassis and engine. The bodywork evolved in the right direction, taking inspiration from the design of the Porsche 911 2.4, with a front spoiler and widened wings to accommodate larger Fuchs wheels in 7 x 14 at the front and 8 x 14 at the rear. These rims were fitted with Dunlop tires in 185/70 VR 14 at the front and 215/60 VR 14 at the rear. The rear lights were also taken from the Porsche 911 2.4. All the chrome elements were replaced by black elements. Finally, the original engine (completely out of order) was replaced by that of the Porsche 911 Carrera RS 2.7, the famous 2.7 l Flat 6 engine developing 210 hp. A 5-speed manual gearbox was installed. The car is thus much more powerful.
A few years later, he sold it to the Swedish collector Nisse Nilson after changing the color, mutating the dark blue chosen by Pininfarina for the snake green "Giftgrün" and removing the Pininfarina and Porsche inscriptions from the engine hood at the rear.
This unique prototype is still part of his private collection, which is exhibited in his museum in Simrishamn, Sweden: the Automuseum – Nisse Nilsson Collection.
It can sometimes be seen driving around his museum in southern Sweden.
Nisse Nilsson brought it in 1993 to the “Sternfahrt” event celebrating 30 years of the Porsche 911 at Ludwigsburg Castle, north of Stuttgart in Germany.
Porsche decided to develop its own 4-seater 911, which would give rise to the Porsche 911 C20 (Project 915), presented in 1970. It is 15 cm longer than the Porsche 911 B 17 and 2.2 cm wider.
The Porsche 915 project began as a life-size, non-running wooden model. This white vehicle, rarely exhibited by Porsche, is on a 1:1 scale and represents the first design chosen by Pininfarina in 1969. The interior did not yet exist, the windows being wooden panels.
Then the 911 C20 was built as a prototype without being produced in series.
The prototype is so poorly made that Porsche only exhibited it at the Goodwood Revival in 2016 as a rarity in its collection.


Luckily for me, being a self-confessed 911 fanatic, the thought of seeing a 911 wagon would have horrified me. Thus, I am faithful to Porsche's core sporting ethic:

But the adventure of the "family" Porsche will be relaunched a few years later, but with other specific models like the Panamera, and also with the fashion of SUVs, the Cayenne and the Macan.
Over time things change, but the 911 soul remains.

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