Porsche 911: Perfection by Design

randy leffingwell

For over 40 years, Porsche’s legendary 911 has ruled the realm of sports cars. The Porsche 911 is the benchmark. The 911 recently celebrated its 40th anniversary, making it one of the longest-running models currently in production from any manufacturer. A leader on the race track as well as the street, it posted an outright, overall victory at the 24 Hours of Daytona in 2003, beating Corvettes, Ferraris, and even purpose-built Daytona Prototype race cars. This, despite the fact the 911’s rear-engine configuration was long ago rejected by rivals. Why does it hold such a coveted spot at the pinnacle of the sports car world? In Porsche 911: Perfection by Design, best-selling author/photographer and noted Porsche historian Randy Leffingwell adeptly answers this question, tracing the amazing story of its development and rise to international success, from the 1963 Type 901 through 2005 models. In tandem, he weaves the racing 911’s rich history, where it reigned victorious at Le Mans, Daytona and many more of the world’s most prestigious races. With more than 350 pages and 300 vivid color and black and white photographs, this amazing hard-cover book showcases why the 911 continues to impress enthusiasts and engineers alike. Leffingwell interviewed dozens of former and current Porsche engineers, designers and executives ? including Ferdinand ?Butzi” Porsche, the father of the 911 ? as well as Porsche competitors (who used the 911 as a benchmark for their own designs) to create a true, hands-on anecdotal history of the 911. Straight from the key players and decision-makers, he ?This book is an inside story of how the 911 came to be what it was, what it is now and how it moved through 40-plus years of evolution, growth and improvement.” A jaw-dropping and unprecedented collection of 911s between two covers (Leffingwell and David Newhardt’s stunning, full-page, color photography features more than 80 Porsche 911s) complements the text, enticing readers to an up-close-and-personal view of these exotic, wish-list cars.

Genres carsdesign

352 pages, Hardcover

First published November 3,2005

This edition

Format: 352 pages, Hardcover
Published: January 1, 2005 by Motorbooks Intl
ISBN: 9780760320921
ASIN: 0760320926
Language: English

About the author

randy leffingwell

Photographer and writer, Randy Leffingwell, has more than 35 books in print, primarily on Americana subjects. These cover interests and areas as diverse as the American barn and Harley-Davidson motorcycles, California's wine country and John Deere farm tractors. His awareness of and attraction to moving things goes back as far as he can remember, to the first Dinky Toys and Match Box cars his father and mother gave him. His practical introduction to real sports cars came several years later when his uncle took him to watch a weekend of racing events at Meadowdale International Raceway in suburban Chicago.

Throughout all this time, however, he imagined himself becoming an architect and his life-long admiration of buildings and design began with frequent trips to downtown Chicago. While in undergraduate studies at Kansas University in the architectural engineering sequence, he discovered photography, journalism, and reawakened an earlier passion for writing. He scarcely looked back as he shifted his major studies from architecture, through English, Art History, psychology, and finally to the William Allen White school of Journalism for a BS in photojournalism.

Following graduation from KU, Randy began a successful career as a photojournalist first at the Kansas City TIMES, then joining the staff of the Chicago SUN-TIMES where he remained for nine years. He then worked as associate editor at AutoWeek magazine in Detroit, before being hired by the Los Angeles TIMES as a writer/photographer. He worked for the TIMES for 11 years, covering everything from news stories to personality profiles to food features throughout Italy, film festivals in France and Utah, and live theater in London. It was, he says, a great job and a great place to work.

His latest project is a large history of Harley-Davidson for them. During this project, he photographed 193 motorcycles from the Harley-Davidson Archives Collection and he completed the corresponding text for the book in early April 2007. Release of this 432 page book tentatively is scheduled for early 2008.