AutoCult Porsche 901 Karmann Cabriolet Prototype (1964) (Germany)

About the Original

The mysterious predecessor

As Porsche decided to replace its successful type 356 with an completely new model in the beginning of the 1960s, the wish for a convertible version topped the list of developments.

The present convertible version was produced by the company Karman in Osnabrück. Due to its positive experiences with Karmann Porsche gave Karman the task of developing also the open version of the next model generation with the internal designation 901. For this purpose Porsche provided a chassis with the chassis number 13360 in June 1964. Within 3 months the specialists of Karman developed and produced a first prototype of Porsche 901 convertible in running condition. If and how the Karman prototype appealed to Porsche is unrecorded. But at that time the prototype had no prospects anyhow, as new security-related regulations in the USA stipulated a rollover protection. As Karman’s prototype did not provide any rollover protection and the US-market was an important and relevant market for Porsche, this spelled the end.

Thereupon the engineers of Porsche, above all son of Porsche-legend Ferry Porsche, Ferdinand Alexander “Butzi” Porsche, started to design a convertible version. The result got permission of the management, was extensively tested and went down in the history of the Porsche 911 as the “Targa”.