Hopefully your Porsche is not “on ice” this winter.

Merry Christmas to all the Porsche fans out there!!!

9 Magazine posted spy shots yesterday of the new Porsche Panamera testing on the Nürburgring. Based on the shots, it looks like the Panamera will get a facelift, similar to the look of the new Porsche 911 that was officially announced last week.

My first thought when seeing these was, “Already?!” Doesn’t seem like the Panamera should be due for a facelift yet, but I guess it has been nearly two and a half years since it was first announced at the Shanghai Auto Show. My how time flies.

Check out all of the shots on the 9 Magazine web site here: SPIED: New Panamera Testing Around Nürburgring.

[Source & Image: 9 Magazine]

Today I finally made it down to an exhibit at the Portland Art Museum that’s been in place for several months now called Allure of the Automobile. Scheduled to be dismantled this coming Sunday, September 11th, I barely made it in time.

The exhibit features 16 cars dated between 1930 and the mid 1960s. One of the most notable vehicles is front and center as soon as you enter the museum. It’s a 1957 Jaguar XK-SS Roadster once owned by the King of Cool, Steve McQueen.

Course my attention was quickly diverted from the Jag to the Porsche 550 Prototype, one of the primary reasons I plunked down $15 to visit the exhibit.

The Porsche 550 Prototype is the first of two 550 prototypes built and is the first race car built by Porsche. The company’s wild success in the racing arena, and resulting sports car market, began with this car. The first 550 completed for competition in 1953, after just a year of development which started in 1952, won in it’s initial outing.

That same year, the two Porsche 550 Prototypes, 550-01 and 550-02, ran neck and neck for the entire 24 hours of Le Mans, crossing the finish line at the same interval at which they had started. Le Mans scoring officials awarded the win to 550-02.

The end of the racing season brought a relocation for the cars to Mexico where they raced in the 1954 La Carrera Panamericana. After that, the cars vanished with only 550-01 resurfacing years later in a Mexican warehouse.

This is one gorgeous car. I spent quite a bit of time walking around the car, taking note of the lines and different little features. I found the interior particularly fascinating. In true racing fashion, it’s sparse with the important gauges and controls within easy reach. Notice the open side and rear vents. Some serious engine noise…and heat!

The rear of the car is a work of art and classic Porsche for the period. I love the round bulging tail lights and centered dual exhaust pipes.

A few interesting specs about the Porsche 550 Prototype:

• Engine type is a 91.5-cid, 8-valve, OHV air-cooled flat-4
• Produces 98 hp at 6,000 rpm
• Top speed is 125 mph, with both prototypes reaching 124 mph during practice sessions at Le Mans in 1953
• 4-speed manual transmission
• Both cars were raced with and without the removable hardtop

If you haven’t been to the Allure of the Automobile yet, and you’re in the Portland area, definitely make it over there before they close it down. It’s a chance to see first hand some amazing cars that helped shape automotive history.

Could this be the first ever 356 Outlaw, photographed well ahead of the previously thought beginnings of the Porsche Outlaw movement? Perhaps Ferry Porsche was indeed well ahead of his time.

Before all manner of emails come my way correctly answering the question, you’re right, it’s impossible! For starters, the C Coupe was built 17 years AFTER this photograph was taken in 1948.

Shane, the owner of the 356 Outlaw in the picture, sent this over. His buddy, Josh Withers (you can check out his work at JoshWithers.com) dropped Shane’s car into the picture. You should know that the color of Shane’s SWEET ride is the same Silver as the Porsche shown in the photograph. He contacted the factory to get the exact paint codes.

Check out more images of Shane’s car in the post I put up here: One Heck Of A Porsche 356 Outlaw.

Thanks for sending this over Shane!

Yesterday I posted about the Porsche Day at the Allure of the Automobile in Portland. While each week has brought some amazing cars to be viewed, there is always one or two extra special cars, usually early models with some serious history backing up their uniqueness. This week was no different with what is thought to be Oregon’s oldest registered driving Porsche 356 on display.

As a side note, I thought the silver Porsche 911 Turbo Look that you can see in the right hand side of this picture was worthy of Show Crown Jewel status, since I spent some seat time in it while it was for sale at Gran Prix Imports (check out the post here: I Think I’m In Love). Nobody seemed to think that I brought enough clout to elevate the car’s status though. Go figure.

Back to the Porsche 356.

The owner was no where to be found, so I didn’t have a chance to get any more details other than a cool little history lesson from a sign he had set up next to the car. Also, as you can imagine, pictures were tough to take given the constant stream of people that surrounded the car. Here are a few cool facts about this car:

• 1953 Porsche 356
• The first in the 356 series with the “bent windshield”
• Stock Color: Azure Blue
• Max Speed: 85 mph (can you imagine ripping down the road at 85 in this thing?!)
• Fuel Consumption: 35 mpg
• Thought to be the oldest registered driving Porsche 356 in the State of Oregon

Here are a few more things about the Porsche 356 series from the owner’s sign on display with the car:

The first fifty Porsche 356 cars were hand built with aluminum bodies hand formed over wooden “bucks” in Gmund, Austria. The style 356 on display (the 1953 car pictured in this post) was produced between 1950 – 1955 and is known as the Pre A. Originally known as a “356″ it was later renamed “Pre-A” to differentiate it from the 356 A that began production in October 0f 1955.

Porsche has a history of continuous refinement dating back to the first days of automobile production and the Pre-A 356 was no exception. One of the changes to the body style was going from a “split windshield” that had two pieces of glass separated by a metal strip down the center to this model referred to as the “bent windshield”.

Total production of the 356 was 78,000 worldwide between 1948 and 1965.

Thanks to owner Doug Naef for bringing his car out on Saturday!

Nearly every major Porsche model was represented with the exception of the Cayenne and Panamera. I suppose I understand that, but I was hoping to see a couple of tricked out models. Guess those owners aren’t proud of their cars.

Pictures were tough given the crowds and combination of sun and shadows cast from the trees. Here are a few, though, that will give you a taste of Porsche goodness we got to experience today.

The above Porsche 356 Speedster was the first car in the line and set the stage for the 2 blocks worth of Porsches waiting for us.

The above Porsche 356 Outlaw was one of my favorite cars of the day. It was the only Outlaw 356 on display.

My wife loved the wicker luggage on this Porsche 356 C.

All in all, one great great day!

This is what happens when rich people get their cars together. An ultimate exotic car crash.

It seems that the driver in the gorgeous blue Bentley Azure tried to squeeze around a Mercedes S Class. She didn’t make it and ended up taking out not only the Mercedes, but an Aston Martin Rapide, Porsche 911 and a Ferrari F430. Sweet MOTHER! Another few inchesand the nearly $500k Rolls Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe would have gotten in on the action.

What’s amazing is the crowd of people that swarmed around, trapping the Bentley driver and passenger in the car. Embarrassing.

Some gorgeous machinery there. Even if they do now qualify for the Scratch N’ Dent lot.

[Source & Images: Autogespot]

Alan, one of our PorschePerfect.com readers, reminded me about the renderings of the Porsche 918 Spyder that floated around last year. I don’t think I ever posted them, and they’re definitely worth seeing. The samples included in this post were rendered by a 13 year old Porsche fan over on Teamspeed.com.

The renderings are based on the Porsche 918 Spyder concept car and show what the car may look like dressed up for competition in the GT1 class. Even though these are more than a year old, I still love the look and seem to be mesmerized by them every time I come across them.

To seem more renderings, check out the post at Teamspeed.com here: Porsche 918 RSR Race Car Rendered.

[Images: Teamspeed.com]

This cracked me up. I ran across this picture on an SQL Server blog. The editor, Steve Jones, decided he was tired of his slow laptop and wanted to speed things up. His solution is quite ingenious. Reminds me of the scene from Vacation where Clark Griswald forgets he’s tied grandma’s dog to the bumper. “Little fella probably kept up for the first mile.”

[Source: SQLServerCentral.com; Image: Steve Jones]

I’m on their update list and knew I was in for a treat when the following picture greeted me one morning in my email:

Let me say, I certainly wasn’t disappointed. The picture was one of nearly 20 from a local Cars & Coffee gathering organized by Carsinpedia.com. Here’s another taste from the event page:

Definitely worth checking out the pictures of the event here: Southshore Cars and Coffee. If you’re in the Southshore area, you really need to attend the monthly event. Let me know if you need a copy of the flyer.

The other post you need to check out while you’re on Carsinpedia.com is the Copperstate1000 post. Some great pictures of a 1000 mile journey and some amazing cars. My favorite is this shot from a Janis Joplin inspired Porsche 356 art car:

The full post is here: 2011 Copperstate1000.

If you’re aren’t already subscribed to the Carsinpedia.com site, definitely sign up.