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There exists a small warehouse in the Zuffenhausen neighborhood of the German city of Stuttgart. It belongs to Porsche, but they donāt like to say where it is. And they rarely open it up to people who arenāt employees of the Porsche Museumālet alone outsiders. But Iāve been there. Iāve seen it. They even let me take pictures. And I can tell you it contains some of the rarest and most bizarre creations in the automotive world.
(Full disclosure: Porsche needed us to check out the 2019 Cayenne and drive some Panameras with adaptive cruise control so badly, they flew us to Germany and put us in a nice hotel near the airport. Oh, and they took us here as a last-minute surprise, which they donāt often do for anyone.)
I thought I had seen things. Been around the block, you know? Iāve been working at Jalopnik and running it long enough that not much truly surprises me anymore.
By now Iāve driven everything from a Ford Model A to a $2.35 million Bugatti Veyron. Iām around vintage cars and modern hypercars every week. Very little of it fazes me anymore.
But this placeāthis place was different. Inside lies more than 90 Porsches and Porsche-related cars, some kept and preserved by the automaker itself, some acquired from private buyers, all ranging from rare and important historic models to mutant cars, design studies, one-offs, test vehicles and prototypes never meant for public consumption.
For the first time in a long time, I wasnāt just enthralled by what I saw, but deeply unsettled by some of it. And I liked it.
Here, the people from the Porsche Museum work to house and restore these cars, maintaining secret collection closed off to most of their personnel and the publicāa collection that makes the museum itself pale in comparison. It is, without a doubt, one of the great hidden gems in the world of cars.
Enough with the words. On to the madness. While Iām no Kurt Bradley, I do hope these admittedly not-great photos can capture some of the insanity I witnessed.
First up, on the right: an aerodynamic test prototype for the legendary 959. A good way to set the tone for whatās to come. Check out the body measurements written all over it.
Next, behind that, a rolling chassis for the 918 Spyder. I love this because itās made from 997 body parts; itās what a hybrid hypercar would look like if Doc Brown cobbled it together in his garage, screaming about how he needs plutonium and more jigowatts to set the right NĆ¼rburgring time.
Behind that, another 959 (I counted at least five here) and a more finished 918.
Here is the engine bay on a 959, complete with the listed firing order.
Youāre welcome.
This interior makes me drool. Itās so simple by modern standards, so uncluttered and functional.
A very nice 356 Cabriolet. They have a bunch of these, as youād expect. Iām not certain of the historical significance of all of these cars, because as soon as I entered I went into a fugue state and wandered off from the guided tour to completely lose my shit on my own, more personal terms.
A Porsche 928 convertible concept car. While conversions exist, Iām amazed they never made one from the factory. It probably would have sold well enough in its day, and been a decent competitor to the Mercedes-Benz SLāback when people actually bought luxury sports coupes and convertibles instead of luxury SUVs.
It looks really nice and clean.
Behind that: the Porsche Panamericana concept car! Definitely one of their weirder ideas. This is one of my favorite concepts ever, from any car company.
Itās from 1989, and itās a 964 built into this wicked zip-top convertible lifted off-road beach buggy thing. As they say, 10/10, would daily.
A pristine 40th anniversary 911. Iāve been on a weird 996 kick lately, air-cooled snobs be damned (or rather, because of them) and this was not helping.
Race cars. Tons of them, including the famed 917 and 962.
A 911 GT1 race car. They have the road-going Strassenversion here too, which I had never seen in person before.
Across from the racing 911s is a row of vintage 356s. This is one of my favorite cars of all time, and very likely what Iād buy if I hit the Powerball tomorrow. (Well, one thing.)
Hereās a pair: a very pristine 944 next to the wood frame buck for the Type 64, now considered the ancestor of all Porsche sports cars. That thing is a survivor.
This kelly green 356 coupe with a tan interior was just really lovely. Nothing too insane about it, just a tasteful and gorgeous classic.
More 911s!
Hell yeah, itās the Rothmans 959 that ran in the 1985 Paris-Dakar Rally. Your car is a pussy compared to this car.
Okay, teens: this has all been well and good so far, but you want to get nuts? Letās get fucking nuts. This, here, is an internal design study for a Cayenne convertible. As far as I know itās never been shown to the public; no other reporters on my trip had seen it before, and our Porsche Cars North America host was as bewildered as we were.
But a museum official explained what it was, and said that it later informed the trick folding roof design for the current 911 Targa. So it did some good in the end.
It doesnāt have a name, but we took to calling it the Cayenne Cross Cabriolet, for obvious reasons.
The back end is split like this too. They must have been trying to show off different design ideas.
The nearly forgotten 984 concept from the 1980s. Had it been made, it sort of would have been the Boxster or Cayman of the Reagan era: a new entry level sports car, below the 911, focused on handling rather than outright speed and power. It was powered by a four-cylinder boxer engine mounted in the rear.
This concept was canceled amid Porscheās money crisis in the ā80s, but it looked fairly close to production here.
Inside was a duffel bag marked ā984.ā I didnāt look in it, but now I wish I had.
The 904 race car, behind some other crated race cars in various states of disassembly.
A very nice 914 next to a 924. I would not kick either of these out of my garage today.
More crazy stuff out back, like the 928 H50 concept. I want a 928 wagon. Donāt you?
What I think is a painted clay model for a 968.
Yeah, donāt do it. Whatever that means.
Tons more cars, bodies and frames on these lifts out back.
Look at the delightful graphics on that 924! Itās like something from a Datsun, or a Trans-Am. I love it.
Wonder what this was for.
As promised, the Strassenversion GT1. I probably would have stolen this if the keys were nearby. I apologize for nothing.
More 959s, as one does.
I donāt know anything about this Porsche motorcycle. But it looks fun.
Here we go: this is the Porsche 932 sedan concept. Itās from the late ā80s. I kind of hate this thing; it looks like a Saturn.
Even if itās not great, you can see shades of the current Panamera in the silhouette; itās like Porsche always had some idea of the sedan it wanted to make. Iām kind of glad it wasnāt this one.
A different kind of car company.
Hereās one I like a lot better: the Porsche 989 concept from 1989. Despite the looks, which very much previewed the Boxster and 996 911 to come, this was meant to be front-engined and powered by a new water-cooled V8. Itās basically the Panamera that never happened, after the project was scrapped in 1992. This is apparently the last surviving prototype.
Hereās the prototype of that V8, under the hood of a Mercedes test car. I couldnāt get a good picture of the inside, but it had a manual too.
The sheet was covering it, but hereās Porscheās car of the future circa 1978, the Concept Car Type 995. It was meant to preview what technologies future cars use, and it had a double-clutch transmission, an aluminum body, and a turbocharged 3.0-liter V8 with cylinder deactivation for better fuel economy. Iād say they had it nailed back then.
Hereās a teal 996, which is the most ā90s car ever. This one is bulletproof, designed for customers who may have been pharmaceutical entrepreneurs in places like Miami or Colombia.
Those are the cars! Seeing them all was an experience that will be hard to top.
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