Monday, July 1, 2013

1989 Porsche Panamericana Concept

The Porsche Panamericana is a 2-passenger, 2-door coupe concept produced by Porsche AG. It was presented to Ferry Porsche on his 80th birthday. Designed by Harm Lagaay (designer) and Ulrich Bez (technical director) to renew the design of the 911. 

Built on the basis of the all-wheel-drive 911 Carrera 4, its bodywork was built with plastic and carbon fiber panels. Powered by a horizontally-opposed six-cylinder engine driving all four wheels. 5-speed manual. That translated to a top speed in the 160 mph or beyond, and acceleration to 60 mph in under 6 seconds. An outstanding characteristic of the car were its wide wheel covers with the objective to have enough room for various sizes of rims and tires, so if necessary it could be transformed in an off-road car. The three part Speedline rims were made exclusively for this model. The roof line was homogeneously streamlined and sloped gently towards the rear engine deck. It could be covered with a waterproof fabric with a pink zipper. Various roof configurations were possible and the car was in fact an hybrid of a targa, convertible, coupe and off-roader. 

With the growing financial crisis at Porsche at the end of 1980s put an end to the possibility of actual production. (wikipedia & auto.howstuffworks.com)







































 (Photos from autowp.ru, boldride.com, autokult.pl & commons.wikimedia.org)