At any given time, however, the bulk of the collection resides in a newly-acquired, climate-controlled warehouse on the outskirts of Stuttgart, Germany. Porsche already gave us a glimpse at the facility and its contents, but now it’s back with a second video showing some of the more unusual cars in its collection.
There’s the Porsche 924 with the unique aero body kit, built specifically to challenge the endurance world record held by Mercedes-Benz. When Porsche got word that Mercedes had built a new car to reset the endurance records, the project was shelved and the car all but forgotten.
There’s a 928 convertible prototype, which serves as an odd bookend to the four-door 928 currently on display in Pebble Beach. A 1984 prototype, the 984 (or Porsche Junior) eventually led to the creation of the Porsche Boxster; it’s worth pointing out that Porsche’s take on a small roadster pre-dated the Mazda Miata by some five years.
Specialized race cars are plentiful in the Porsche Museum collection, too, such as the 906 built exclusively for the Ollon-Villars hill climb, or the 908 built just for Italy’s Targa Florio road race.
Sometimes, the museum cars illustrate a wrong turn for Porsche, such as the FLA study which sought to prove that cars could be built to last 20 or 30 years (hence impacting new car sales for decades to come). A bulletproof 911, which tips the scales at some 6,000 pounds, seems to illustrate that because you can do something doesn’t mean you should.
Shows like Pebble Beach always make us wonder what cars will be valuable in the future. Will the under-appreciated Porsche Cayman eventually be worth more than the 911, since it enjoys fewer sales?
We can’t even venture a guess, since we never seem to make money when buying and selling cars ourselves. This much is clear, though: if a Porsche model is deemed historically significant, the craftsmen at the Porsche Museum collection will ensure it endures for future enthusiasts.