Porsche introduced the iconic sports car 50 years ago. A large-format illustrated book is venerably dedicated to the history of the classic and shows the variants from then until today in extremely attractive photos by car photographer René Staud in a robustly produced hardcover book that almost feels like a Porsche when held in the hands.
Homage to the 911
The presentation of the Porsche 901 at the 1963 IAA caused a sensation. Although the carmaker had to change the name because Peugeot owned the patent for the 0 in the middle of the model designation, there was no stopping the 911 on its way to becoming a sports car icon.
Thanks to its 50-year evolution, the 911 has now matured into a sports car that can be adorned with the rare attribute "perfect": it combines apparent opposites such as sportiness and suitability for everyday use, elegantly combines design and functionality and also proves its maturity in motorsport with thousands of victories. Racing has always been the 911's test laboratory and has enriched the road versions with innovations.
At the same time, the 911 is the heart of the Porsche brand, the original benchmark of all sports cars, against which many others have had to be measured. The 911 set the trend and will probably continue to do so for the next 50 years.
It all starts with the green T7
The book correctly begins with the green T7, the prototype from 1959 from which the 901 designed by Ferdinand Alexander Porsche emerged, which was then shown at the IAA in Frankfurt in 1963:
Skillfully spanned arc from the 901 to the Type 991
The success story ranges from the original model to the Carrera RS 2.7, the fastest production car of its time with the characteristic rear spoiler, the so-called duck tail, to the current 991 generation. The striking legends of motorsport, the 935 Moby Dick and the 911 SC 3.0 Safari, have also not been left out.
René Staud and his 9-meter lightning system
Staud started out with passport photos and wedding photos. After a few detours via reportage, fashion and furniture photography, René Staud discovered his talent for staging cars - and quickly worked his way into the premier league of horsepower photographers.
He was helped by an invention that made him a star of the scene overnight. "Cars simply couldn't be photographed properly with the light available at the time. More than documentation was hardly possible," he remembers a time when floodlights were a maximum of one square meter in size. "But to bring out all the details in a car, you need large, even light," Staud realized and tinkered around until a construction called Magicflash was ready for use: with so-called flash trays up to nine meters long and three meters wide, perfect illumination was guaranteed. "The differences were so striking that I could hardly save myself from orders from one day to the next," reports the Stuttgart native.
In 1986, he opened a studio complex in Leonberg. "The studio offers perfect working conditions and is big enough for everything that moves on the road - up to 40-ton trucks."
Today, René Staud creates advertising motifs for Audi in China, he shoots the first pictures for almost every new Aston Martin, and when Mercedes expands its model range, the cars first appear in his studio and only then at a trade fair.
René Staud is currently driving his 24th Porsche 911, the 991 Carrera 4S. The Turbo will follow soon, which would be his number 25. He has sold all but two of his 911s for the next one.
When the 911 was presented in 1963, René Staud was of course there. But he was anything but enthusiastic and remembers: "The 356 was much prettier, prettier. The 911 was a very modern car back then," he said in an interview.
Who will find the book interesting?
As expected, there are countless books about Porsche on the market, so it can be very difficult to find the right one for you. René Staud's book naturally shines and shines with the photos and it is certainly true to say that the 911 models have rarely been photographed so beautifully.
The quality of the book and the thickness of the individual pages as well as the vibrancy of the colors help to enhance the enjoyment of the photos immensely. teNeues has not only set another milestone among the "coffee-table books" with this book, but may well rank among the most important books on the 911, which should certainly not be missing on the shelf of a 911 fan.
René Staud succeeds in depicting the beautiful shapes, details and silhouettes of the 911s so vividly that after leafing through the book you actually feel as if you have been in a Porsche 911 museum.
At a price of 98 euros, the book is not exactly cheap, but once you hold it in your hand and touch the pages, you quickly forget the considerable investment and are happy to have bought it.
Models shown in the book
At the beginning of the project, the plan was to photograph only the most important models. However, the fascination of the 911 evolution shows in black and white that even a person who has been photographing cars for over 25 years can still be captivated. In the end, 69 different models were photographed:
- T7 (1959)
- 901 (1963)
- 911 (1964)
- 912 (1965)
- 911 2.0 Targa (1966)
- 911 R (1967)
- 911 2.4 S Targa (1971)
- 911 S 2.5 (1972)
- 911 G (1973)
- 911 Carrera RS 2.7 (1973)
- 911 Carrera RSR 2.8 (1973)
- 911 Carrera RSR 3.0 (1973)
- 911 Carrera RS 3.0 IROC (1974)
- 911 Carrera RSR 2.1 Turbo (1974)
- 911 Carrera 3.0 (1975)
- 911 Turbo 3.0 (1975)
- 934 Turbo RSR (1976)
- 911 Turbo 3.3 (1977)
- 935/78 Moby Dick (1978)
- 911 SC 3.0 Safari (1978)
- 911 SC 3.0 Cabriolet (1982)
- 911 SC/RS (1985)
- 911 G Carrera 3.2 (1985)
- 959 (1985)
- 911 Turbo 3.3 Cabriolet (1986)
- 911 Turbo 3.3 Targa (1986)
- 911 Carrera Clubsport (1987)
- 911 Carrera 3.2 Speedster (1988)
- 911 Carrera 4 Coupé [964] (1988)
- 911 Carrera 2 Cup [964] (1990)
- 911 Turbo 3.3 [964] (1990)
- 911 Turbo S [964] (1991)
- 911 Carrera RS Coupé [964] (1992)
- 911 Turbo 3.6 [964] (1993)
- 911 Turbo S LM GT [964] (1993)
- 911 30 years (1993)
- 911 Carrera Coupé [993] (1993)
- 911 Carrera Cabriolet [993] (1994)
- 911 Cup 3.8 [993] (1994)
- 911 Targa [993] (1995)
- 911 Turbo [993] (1995)
- 911 Carrera RS Clubsport [993] (1995)
- 911 GT2 Evolution (1995)
- 911 Carrera Supercup [993] (1996)
- 911 Carrera [996] (1997)
- 911 Turbo S [993] (1997)
- 911 GT1 racing version (1997)
- 911 GT1 road version (1998)
- 911 GT3 Cup [996] (1998)
- 911 Turbo [996] (2000)
- 911 GT2 [996] (2001)
- 911 Carrera Cabriolet [996] (2003)
- 911 Carrera S Cabriolet [997] (2004)
- 911 Carrera [997] (2004)
- 911 GT3 RS [996] (2004)
- 911 Turbo Cabriolet [996] (2004)
- 911 Targa 4S [997] (2006)
- 911 Turbo [997] (2006)
- 911 GT3 [997] (2006)
- 911 Sport Classic [997] (2009)
- 911 Carrera GTS [997] (2010)
- 911 GT2 RS [997] (2010)
- 911 GT3 R Hybrid [997] (2010)
- 911 Speedster [997] (2010)
- 911 GT3 RS 4.0 [997] (2011)
- 911 Carrera S [991] (2011)
- 911 Carrera S Cabriolet [991] (2011)
- 911 Carrera 4 [991] (2012)
- 911 Carrera 4S [991] (2012)
Information about the book
- © The Porsche 911 Book, 50th Anniversary Edition, Photographs by René Staud, published by teNeues, € 98, - www.teneues.com
- Order from Amazon ( incl. postage + customs at € 98) or directly from teNeues
- 320 pages, hardcover, 29 x 37 cm
- 225 color photographs by René Staud
- Texts by Jürgen Lewandowski in English, German, French, Russian and Chinese.
- Published by teNeues
- Price approx. 98€
- ISBN: 978-3-8327-9703-4
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