HISTORY // STEVE MCQUEEN ON THE PORSCHE 911

When Porsche released their new 911 sports car in 1966, Sports Illustrated asked guest automotive reviewer and star of the silver screen, Steve McQueen, to have a go in the new rear engined German automobile. Known for his interest in sports cars and having previously reviewed cars for Sports Illustrated, to include the latest models from Aston Martin, Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar, and the latest Cobra and Corvette, McQueen was more than happy to review the new 911.

What follows is an excerpt from that article... [read more]

“Like the 230SL, the other German car, the Porsche 911, was a six. The Mercedes straight-six is in the front. The Porsche flat-six, with horizontally opposed cylinders—an engine developed from the Grand Prix car of a few seasons ago—is in the rear. I was curious to see how much the Porsche had changed since I raced my Super, which had the four-cylinder engine. Boy, it’s changed. Road noise used to be a problem with that rear-engine location, but on the 911 I got very little noise. The old Porsches had that violent oversteer tendency, and they would get out of whack with no warning. You’d be hung out and locked in your steering with nowhere to go. We used to decamber the rear wheels 2?° to 3?°, so they kind of looked like somebody had sat on them, and toe them in half a degree to get a certain amount of stability. Now the problem has been corrected. The 911 was a very neutral-handling car, very docile, very pleasant to drive, and the five-speed gearbox sure was easy to use. The brakes were just fine. Once a gust of wind caught me on the back straight and slid me over a few feet, but the car didn’t get radical in its handling.

There is a four-cylinder Porsche—the less expensive 912—and I imagine it has a little more snap at low RPM than the 911 but not as much top speed. With that six the 911 honks right along.”

Images and Info: The Chicane