Best-selling author Randy Leffingwell celebrates a half-century of one of the world’s premiere sports cars, focusing on the major themes that have defined Porsche’s rear-engined wonder. Porsche 911: 50 Years tells the whole story—
design and development,
racing and competition,
engineering and technology,
style and culture. All the iconic 911 models are included:
- The original 901 prototype that set the standard
- The legendary RS models that made the little Porsche a dominant force on the world’s racetracks
- The infamous Turbo, the car that kept the performance flame alight during the dark, dismal decade of the 1970s
- The fabled 959, the model that redefined the term “sports car”
- The 993, last of the original air-cooled models
- The 996, 997, and 991, the liquid-cooled cars that brought the 911 into a new millennium
Beyond telling
the story of the cars,
Porsche 911: 50 years also spotlights the people behind them: Ferdinand “Butzi” Porsche, the son of legendary Porsche founder Ferdinand “Ferry” Porsche, who co-designed the instantly recognizable 911 shape; Peter W. Schutz, the Porsche CEO who saved the 911 from extinction; and Dr. Helmuth Bott, the engineering genius behind many of the groundbreaking technologies that have defined the 911, including fuel injection, turbocharging, and all-wheel-drive.
Leffingwell also tells the story of the 911 community—the clubs and culture that surround the car.
Together, all of these facets make
Porsche 911: 50 Years the most essential book in any Porsche owner or fan’s library.
Randy Leffingwell wrote his first book, American Muscle, while still on staff at the Los Angeles Times. The book examined Times’ publisher Otis Chandler’s growing collection of muscle cars. American Muscle, published in September 1990, jump-started a love of book creation that ultimately led Leffingwell to leave the Times in 1995. By then, he and Motorbooks had published Porsche Legends and six other books.
Since 1990, Leffingwell has authored more than 60 titles, most of them automotive-oriented. Over 30-plus years, these include a dozen Porsche titles ranging from general overviews—Porsche 75 Years: Expect the Unexpected, and The Complete Book of Porsche 911—to deeper explorations in Porsche Turbo and Porsche 911: 50 Years. During this time, he has regularly traveled to Germany to continue his research regarding Porsche’s history. To date, Leffingwell has interviewed more than 200 Porsche engineers, stylists, model makers, racers, and managers.
While he has tackled other subjects, including John Deere tractors, Harley-Davidson motorcycles, and West Coast lighthouses, Leffingwell admits he is almost addicted to the Porsche story. In addition to his book work, he is historical editor for 000 magazine and PorschePanorama. And for the past decade, he has been researching and writing an encyclopedic history of Porsche’s motorsports endeavors.
Leffingwell lives near Santa Barbara, California.
