Peugeot objected to the вЂњ901вЂќ designation because they too had patented a three-digit numeric designation for one of their cars that contained a zero as the middle digit. One of the Porsche 901 prototypes was transported to the Paris Motor Show in October, 1964, and was once more well received by almost everyone вЂ“ except for the executives of the French car manufacturer Peugeot. In September 14, 1964, production on the new Porsche 901 began and over the following week, a total of 82 cars were manufactured. There were still a good number of 356 C orders to be filled, and while production of the 356 C would continue for at least another year while additional engineering was completed on the 901, public appeal for the new car seemed very promising. The carвЂ™s success at the Frankfurt Auto Show proved unequivocally that production of the 901 would begin as soon as the Porsche facilities could re-tool to begin production. As the design took shape, Ferry Porsche took his sonвЂ™s drawings to neighboring chassis manufacturer Reuter to fabricate the first prototypes of the Porsche 901 design. Porsche complained that Komenda made unauthorized changes to his design and caused internal strife within the group. It had been assumed that Erwin Komenda, who had developed the body design for the Porsche 356 and led the body design department up to that point, would be responsible for the 901вЂ™s design. The decision to utilize Ferdinand Alexander created an upheaval within the Porsche organization. Much as his father had done for him a generation earlier, Ferry entrusted the body design of the Porsche 901 to his eldest son, Ferdinand Alexander Porsche (F.A.). The early development of the 901 was centralized around a proven concept вЂ“ develop another air-cooled, rear-engine sports car, but this time equip it with a more-powerful six-cylinder вЂњboxerвЂќ engine. In September, 1963, at the Internationale Automobil-Ausstellung (the Frankfurt Motor Show) in Frankfurt, Germany, Ferry Porsche presented the successor to the 356 as the Porsche 901. Instead, Porsche felt it was time to introduce the world to the successor of the 356.

At the same time, Ferry recognized that the 356, for as much as it had evolved, was fifteen years old, and was due for a major redesign. The Story of the Porsche 911 вЂ“ A Timeline Porsche Prepares To Evolve Beyond The 356Д«y the early 1960вЂ™s, with the commercial success of the 356 (in all of its variants) over the past decade, Porsche had garnered a reputation for building quality, high-performance vehicles that handled equally well on-and-off the race track.

Porsche 911 engine model