Porsche 2013 Annual Report Download - page 66

064 // ANNUAL REPORT PORSCHE AG 2013
Exclusive small-scale production has a
venerable history at Porsche. The rst
documented customer request dates
back to 1962. The industrial magnate
Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach
ordered a rear window wiper for his
Porsche 356 B Coupé. Fullling this
special order is the origin of the
“special request” program that blos-
somed in the eighties.
Porsche’s racing activities generated the
impetus for this trend. Similar to the modifi-
cations made to the Porsche 935 that was
dominating in the auto racing circuit, the
customer service division began to offer a
‘911 Turbo/911 SC Turbo flat nose’ conver-
sion starting in 1981. The special design,
initially dubbed “hammerhead”, features a
characteristic flat nose with integrated dual
headlights – a conversion that was replaced
in 1983 by a version with 924- and 944-type
flip-up headlights.
That same year, Mansour Ojjeh, a Saudi
Arabian businessman and owner of
Technique d´Avantgarde (TAG), ordered a
street-legal 935 race car. As a side note,
he commissioned Porsche to develop the
TAG Formula 1 engine with which McLaren
won the World Championship title in 1984
and 1985.
The street-legal 935 was based on a
Porsche 911 Turbo, with chassis and body
parts taken from a 935, and a modified
934 engine tuned to deliver 409 hp. Includ-
ing the customized “Brilliant Red” paint job,
full-leather “Creme Caramel” interior, burl
wood trim, and a Clarion stereo system,
the conversion of the 285-km/hr, one-of-
a-kind car required 550 individual parts
and 300 work hours, and cost 350,000
deutschmarks.
In 1986, the special request program
evolved into its own pioneering busi-
ness model. The founding of ‘Porsche
Exclusive’ represented the first time a car
manufacturer offered customization and
enhancement packages. And the first
time a catalog was available featuring the
exclusive special options available from
the factory. Soon, Porsche’s refinement
experts procured additional premises that
were closer to the Zuffenhausen produc-
tion facilities.
Custom-built
at the factory
911-based, slant-nosed Porsche 948s
started to leave the production plant over
the next few years. As the last represent-
ative of the 911 series, the 964 Turbo
3.6 slant nose had a look that was born in
racing, along with the flip-up headlights from
the 968 trans-axle model.
Porsche Exclusive’s first small-scale
production run left the factory in 1992.
The 911 Turbo S Leichtbau (lightweight
construction), based on the current 964
series, featured many exclusive innovations
that would later on be adopted in the series.
It was the first time that 18-inch wheels, red
brake shoes, and the striking “Speed Yellow”
exterior color were used on a Porsche car.
Rarer and more exclusive than the 86 units
of the 911 Turbo S Leichtbau was the 911
Carrera 2 Speedster, of which only 15 cus-
tom units were built, distinguished by the
wide-body look of the Turbo models.
Only two cars were created from the
successor model. In 1995, engineers from
Weissach and Porsche Exclusive put to-
gether the first 993-based 911 Carrera 3.6
Speedster for 911 creator Ferdinand Alex-
ander Porsche on the occasion of his 60th
birthday. Another 993 Speedster followed
five years later at the request of US actor
and Porsche collector Jerry Seinfeld.