This year is Porsche’s 75th anniversary. Why is that a big deal? Porsche is beloved among car collectors and Hagerty members, ranking sixth on the list of cars that we insure, which is incredible for a premium brand. You can find people in the collector car world who are unmoved by a Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz, or Lexus, but you won’t find many who haven’t drooled over a 356, one of the many iterations of the 911, a 928, a 944, or a Boxster. Porsche has managed to thread the needle by appealing to nearly everyone—and that, in my book, is worthy of celebration.
I have been a fan since the age of 13, when my dad and I dug the pieces of a ’67 911S out of a snowbank near our home in Northern Michigan, just south of the 45th parallel. It took years—plus a lot of treasure and skinned knuckles—but we pieced it back together, and I have enjoyed it since. As with any relationship, though, it hasn’t all been hearts and roses.
There was the time in high school, for instance, when I was cruising the lakeshore in my 911 with a girl I liked. A valve cover gasket gave out, spewing oil on the exhaust system. Black smoke billowed, and I had no fire extinguisher. I could hardly blame the car for ruining my date since I was the one who had installed the gasket—upside down. In any case, the girl is long gone, but I still have the Porsche. I’ve taken it to the top of Pikes Peak, snaked my way up Highway 1 from Malibu to Big Sur, and driven it endlessly on the best roads where I live, near the tip of Michigan’s pinkie.
Over the years, I have driven and owned plenty of other Porsches: newer 911s, a Cayenne, and now my first EV, a Taycan Turbo S. Some purists wish that Porsche would stick to sports cars, but the SUVs in particular helped make the automaker one of the most valuable in the world, and those profits have in turn fueled Porsche’s sports car development and its continued presence in motorsports. Every major luxury brand—including Maserati, Lamborghini, and, most recently, Ferrari—has followed Porsche in offering an SUV.
I love the Porsche design aesthetic, particularly the timeless lines of the 911, which our own Aaron Robinson once described in these pages as “a masterwork of industrial art.” I love the classic Porsche road feel. And the sound—oh man, do I love the sound of a flat-six Porsche going through its paces. I’m sure I could single out my 911 from a sound lineup.
Like most 911 fans, I learned to love how cantankerous older 911s can be to drive, due to the weight of the engine behind the rear axle: basic laws of physics and all that. Porsche engineers, of course, made a virtue out of what was inherently a design flaw because that’s what they do. They refine, redefine, and reimagine, always with enthusiasts in mind, resulting in uncompromising cars that are stout enough to be driven daily, fun enough to deliver a consistently satisfying driving experience, and (for some models, particularly the 914, 928, and 944) still relatively inexpensive to buy for the typical collector car buff.
And that’s why legions of fans simply can’t get enough.
So, congratulations on your 75th anniversary, Porsche! You have made generations of car enthusiasts very happy. You bring joy to people, and that’s probably the single best thing anybody can say about a company or a human being.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on Porsche or any brand that makes your heart sing. Drop me a note at mhagerty@hagerty.com.
Happy driving. I’ll see you out there.
