The 1954 fashion line from Fontana of Rome, influenced, no doubt, by Dior s New Look. The 356 dates from the 1953 model year.

Transcription

1 The 1954 fashion line from Fontana of Rome, influenced, no doubt, by Dior s New Look. The 356 dates from the 1953 model year. 11

2 Wolfgang Möbius put forward this design on his second attempt. Möbius was heavily involved with the styling of the 928, incidentally. looking for features for the driver who wants to be happy when he drives the car. It is not important to have the highest maximum speed - the car must be fun. If the driver wants to lower the top, it should be easy. It needs good ergonomics. A good noise. A sporty car, but it can also be comfortable. It must not be hard riding... That is the direction we will be going. Was this a tease, or a statement of fact? The Detroit aftermath Although many were convinced that the Boxster show car was a pre-production model, it was only a hint of what was to come. No fewer than four designs were being pursued at the same time as the Detroit concept model was taking shape, and these were, in effect, the real Boxsters - the designs that would form the basis of the production vehicle, tackled respectively by Wolfgang Möbius, Matthias Kulla, Steve Murkett, and Pinky Lai. The four designers produced full-size clays to depict their proposals (Möbius and Kulla shared one clay, with Murkett and Lai sharing another, each slightly different on either side of the centreline). However, Harm Lagaay soon came to the conclusion that much of the show car s styling had to be incorporated into the production version: In the late summer [of 1992], something important happened. Larson s design theme was beginning to become the favourite. Whenever we showed them together, the Boxster won every time, and we could see it was having an influence on the evolution of the other cars. This was the car we loved. It wasn t just the size; we knew this was the theme we needed. The original alternative design proposals were duly shelved, which had a knock-on effect on the 996, too, but in view of the Boxster s warm reception around the world, it proved a good decision. Larson was brought back into the picture, and then another set of full-size clays was duly produced, with Lai being given one clay, and Möbius and Larson sharing a second one. Following internal design reviews, it was Larson s final styling proposal that was ultimately chosen, the design being frozen in March Given that the Boxster was to share as many components as possible with the 996, including body panels that are extremely expensive to tool up for, it was fairly obvious that the production model was going to be bigger than the vehicle shown in Detroit. As Paul Frere noted in the June 1993 issue of Road & Track: The Boxster concept car that created such a stir at the Detroit auto show has nothing in common with any future Porsche model except for its mid-engine configuration. It is hardly a secret that such a mid-engine car is currently 55

3 The optional windblocker in position - a piece of glass that worked with the mesh screens on the roll-over hoops supplied with it to cut buffeting in the cockpit. As it was impossible to place one of the B-posts, a coat hook was supplied on the seatback. Also housing the 57 litre (12.5 Imperial gallon) fuel tank and spacesaver spare, the front luggage compartment was short but deep, while the one at the back was long and shallow, like that of the 924 and its derivatives. The two compartments had a combined carrying capacity of around 260 litres (9.1 cu ft), and there was another storage compartment within the cockpit; situated behind the headrests and below the hood, it was ideal for large maps if little else. Eventually, a storage box was introduced to sit in the gap (M584), which could also be used to house additional speakers. Luggage compartment releases were positioned in the driver s-side sill, by the way (handed for lhd and rhd vehicles), and therefore covered when the door was shut. There was a novel optional alloy roof rack for skis, bicycles, or the like, greatly increasing load-carrying capability. Other interesting options included a hardtop (made in aluminium and complete with a heated rear window, it weighed in at 25kg/55lb), and a windblocker (in this case, a piece of glass fitted between the mesh-inlayed rollover bars). The smooth underbody helped Porsche engineers to reduce drag by 6 per cent, achieving a Cd figure of just 0.31 with the top up - quite remarkable for an open car. To put this into perspective, even the second generation Mazda MX- 5 Miata (a vehicle recognized as being quite clean through the air for a drophead two-seater) couldn t better Cd The underbody design also reduced lift at the front of the car by 36 per cent. Interestingly, body panels (produced in galvanized steel to allow Porsche to give a ten year anti-perforation warranty), like those of the 996, were ordered from BMW and then welded by Porsche in Werk 3. Numerous other components (such as the dashboard, seats, et cetera) were shipped into Zuffenhausen as complete assemblies, to be installed upon arrival rather than built up at Porsche, then installed. The just- 80

4 Rear view of the engine. The only real opportunity to see the engine is when it is out of the car, or partially from underneath. Checking and replenishing oil and water levels is done through a service area in the offside corner of the rear luggage compartment. was also given the option of an lsd/abd combination, but it was available on either transmission, and came with a manual override switch in the cockpit. The Tiptronic S gearbox gained an extra cog for the Boxster. The five-speed Type A86/00 transmission was sourced from ZF, and came with internal ratios of 3.66 on first, 2.00 on second, 1.41 on third, 1.00 on fourth, and 0.74 on fifth; a lower 4.20:1 final drive was specified for the AT cars to make up for the additional 50kg (110lb) carried by the Tiptronic models, and thus keep performance roughly on a par with that of the manual version. The Tiptronic transmission featured five shift maps to best match driving conditions, and also adapted to driver input and style. The Tiptronic S buttons on the upper steering wheel spokes were the same as those found on the 993, although the gear selector was of a new design. The M position was now to the left of the D ; there was no longer a +/- section for the gearlever, manual up and down shifts being controlled by the steering wheel buttons only. And 87

5 The new 2.7 litre Boxster, seen here with its optional hardtop in place. It will be remembered that the 550 Spyders once raced with a roof in the 1950s, which was added to comply with regulations outlined for Le Mans. 184