It's been a week of fantasy and celebrity here at FlatSixes.com We started the week with a quest to fill our dream garage full of Porsches and quickly moved on to those Porsche cars that held starring roles in the movies. To round out the week we want to know what is the most famous Porsche?
Before answering the question, let's first set some ground rules and define what we mean by famous. We all know there are lots of famous Porsches. There is the Gmund No. 1 that started everything; the 917 Pink Pig (one of my personal favorites); any of the recent winning Spyders at Sebring and other races; the Porsche 959 (possibly the worlds first every day supercar), etc. etc. What we're interested in are Porsches that have jumped from relative obscurity (known by a select group of Porsche lovers and aficionados) and landed squarely in the public eye.
Two cars come immediately to mind. It's our opinion that for anyone over 50 years old (and for most Porschephiles) that the Porsche 550 Spyder (made famous by the crash that killed James Dean) would take top honors. For the younger generation, and the general population as a whole, the award just might go to the Porsche 928 made famous by none other than Tom Cruise in the movie Risky Business.
James Dean's Porsche 550 Spyder
The Risky Business Porsche 928
When we originally ran this post we asked our readers what they thought. The poll has closed, but you can sitll voice your opinion in the comments at the end of this post below the results from the original poll.
Neither. The most famous one will be the Porsche 901 that will star in the movie made of Kevin Gosselin’s book after Hollywood has purchased the movie-rights!
@Etienne,
I know Kevin hopes you are right!!!! It was a great book and I would love to see it on the big screen.
Personally I would say the 911 S used by Steve McQueen in 24hr LeMans
dean’s 550 epitomizes the Porsche mystique. I hope to be the guy who finds it, someday.
Canuck,
Not that I’m overly superstitious, but I’m not sure I would want that cursed and twisted lump in MY garage!
“Cursed and twisted” sounds like my minivan …
In my opinion, it has to be the Turbo 3.6 that Will Smith and Martin Lawerence drove in the movie “Bad Boys”. Will Smith is the greatest actor in histroy and the 911 (964) Turbo 3.6 is the last of the old school body stlye turbos…..and icon forever! You should add that car to your voting pole.
A tribute to Matt Drendel following his untimely passing
Yeah The Bad Boys Porsche would one of the best then I would have Steve McQueen’s next then James Dean then the 928 from Risky Business also not forgetting the Porsche out of The Death Race movie.
Is would be from the movie “Bad Boys”. Why it beat a cobra with the partner of Wil Smith at the wheel.
Clearly it’s my 911 sitting in my garage right now.
Maybe not the most famous but the first Porsche I really watched in a movie and that motivated me to get a 912 35 years ago and more recently, a 928 (super car to drive with a sharklike appeal). It was the 356 Paul Newman drove in ‘Harper’ – a detective movie. Good movie. Good Actor. Good looking (albeit in primer partly) Porsche.
Re: survey. The 550 is by far the better known by my generation. The poll is probably skewed by the population sampled. And while the 550 Spyder would be very cool to own and have… if I could just have one as a driver, it would be the 928S. (or I somebody gave me a Spyder, sell it to afford several very interesting and fun to drive sports cars.
Hey, Richard,
I think the only way the poll might be skewed is that the sampling is taken from Porsche enthusiasts (vs. the general population). I believe, that in his death, James Dean became synonymous with Porsche. As a result, regardless of age, most Porsche fans give that answer.
Now, if you were sampling the general population, depending on age, you might get everything from the 928 in Risky Business to the 964 Turbo in Bad Boys (as Matt Drendel noted above)
The most famous Porsche? Why mine of course.
I would put my vote on the Legendary 917, how could you
leave that one out! Jerry Seinfield owns one, Soooooo, must be
something to it.
The most famous Porsche can only be the Porsche every car enthousiast has seen at least once in his life. It is the 917 from the movie “Le Mans” featuring Steve McQueen.
James Dean’s Spyder is the most famous car in America as a Porsche and there are a lot of countries where the legend of that car and the man are well-known, despite the fact that a large sample of those polled wouldn’t know an RSK from a 917. The above said, the mystery that for a time surrounded two Steve McQueen 911S’s and the stories that both of these cars spawned on the internet in connection with the Actor who put his own personal fortune on the line to film LeMans, makes Steve McQueen”s 2nd 911S quite famous within the Hollywood Community as well as the original Mulholland racing set. Beyond that, Porschephiles were not completely astonished when this second 911S sold for $1.375 million recently, marking it as an auction record for a 911 (including required fees which are counted as part of the record price). The King of Cool would not dispute Dean’s place in history, if he were still around. — Zioo
I generally think Dean’s Porsche is the most famous, but it could very well be the Porsche in Cars Movie.
Art,
I tend to agree with you (regarding Dean’s Porsche), but I think the answer probably depends on what generation you’re from and whether you’re a Porschephile or not…
The most famous ? The car that Ferry and Ferdinand designed and built together: Porsche number 1.
It alone is the patriarchal figure to all that followed. And Ferry seated in it , looking over his right shoulder , just a short while before he died, is the the picture that should be forever emblazoned in our minds.
Others may be a significant addition, nothwithstanding the Otto Mathe race car that came about much earlier with Ferdinand as the designer and builder, the iconic 901 / 911 as designed by the recent Butzi Porsche and several other notable and special cars, but I truly feel the most famous has to be the Gmund # 1. It led the way to all that we know and love today that is Porsche.
The James Dean 550 is the most famous Porsche. In Los Angeles, however, the chopped Porsche that terrorized Mulholland racers in the 1970′s into the early 80′s is the most famous and legendary Porsche in the L. A. Region.
@Alex, what’s the “chopped Porsche” you mention? Not sure I’m familiar with it?
I’ll cast my vote for the Porche 917-30 Sunoco Can Am car as I’m the person who designed the color scheme for the car when I was designing color schemes for Roger Penske’s race cars. I also did the color design on the L & M Can Am car, so of course I’m somewhat biased in my selection.