13 Most Striking Porsches Ever Made
Porsche has built some of the world’s best and most desirable sports cars. Needless to say, their striking design is part of what makes them so sought after.
While most Porsches look good, there are some that truly stands out from the rest, and those are the ones we’ll focus on.
These Porsches aren’t necessarily the rarest or most expensive (some are), but they’re eye-wateringly good-looking.
Porsche 550 Spyder
Porsche introduced the 550 Spyder in 1953, and the car really showed off the German company’s minimalistic approach to sports cars. Other sports car manufacturers prefer large V8 or V12 engines, but not Porsche.
They built a lightweight, race-winning machine around a 1.5-liter boxer engine churning out 108-hp. Only 90 550 Spyders were made, and Hollywood actor James Dean bought one of them. After his fatal accident, it’s been said that Dean’s car is cursed.
Porsche 904 GTS
The Porsche 904 doesn’t just look stunning, it is also one of the carmaker’s most successful mid-engined race cars. Porsche only built it in 1964 and 1965, but it was available with multiple engine configurations, ranging from a flat-four to a flat-eight.
For the first time, Porsche built a car on a ladder-frame chassis, and like the manufacturer’s other track-focused models, they ensured that the weight was kept to a minimum. When fitted with the 180-hp 2.0-liter four-cylinder boxer engine, the 904 weighed just 1,443lbs and could sprint to 60 mph in under six seconds and had a top speed of 163 mph.
Porsche 930 Turbo
Porsche turned everything up to 11 when the first road-going turbocharged 911 arrived in 1976. It had more power, wider bodywork, and a larger wing than any 911 before it, and it didn’t take long before it secured its place in the automotive history books.
Part of the reason the 930 became so iconic was its deadly reputation as a “Widow Maker.” In the right hands, however, it was a proper weapon. To this day, the Turbo is one of the top trim levels of the 911.
Porsche 911 GT1 Straßenversion
You may have guessed by its looks and name that the Porsche 911 GT1 Straßenversion is a homologation special — GT1 was the race class, and Straßenversion means road version.
This is a barely road-legal version of the car Porsche raced at Le Mans. While it has 911 in its name, it has nothing in common with the 996 generation 911 other than its headlights. Behind the driver, the 911 GT1 Straßenversion has a twin-turbocharged 3.2-liter flat-six engine producing 540-hp and 443lb-ft of torque, giving it the performance to match its aggressive looks.
Porsche Carrera GT
In 2004, Porsche introduced the mid-engined Carrera GT supercar, and just two years later, it was discontinued after 1,270 units were built. Porsche only offered the Carrera GT with one powerplant, a naturally aspirated V10 engine churning out 611-hp.
It can reach 62 mph in just 3.5 seconds and continues until it hits its 205 mph top speed. Known as one of the last analog supercars, the Carrera GT soon put the fear of God in drivers who didn’t respect it. It’s now best known as the car involved in Paul Walker’s death, and even Jay Leno had a close call behind the wheel of the Carrera GT years before that.
Porsche 935 “Moby Dick”
The Porsche 935 Flatnose was the first rear-engined car to win at Le Mans, and it dominated racing series in the 1970s and 1980s. It was developed for FIA Group 5 racing, and privateer teams could buy it directly from Porsche.
Power came from a turbocharged 3.0 or 3.3-liter flat-six, producing between 560 and 845 hp, depending on the setup. With its flat front and oversized whale tail wing, it soon became known as Moby Dick, and Porsche even built one road-going car for racing team owner and businessman Mansour Ojjieh.
2019 Porsche 935
In 2019, Porsche built a limited edition model to celebrate the iconic 935 race car. Their retro-inspired creation was based on the 991 GT2 RS, which meant it packed a serious punch in addition to its strikingly good looks.
Only 77 935s were built, and it was even offered with the Martini Racing livery. Weighing just 3,042lbs, the 935 is 200lbs lighter than the already lightweight GT2 RS, and with 691-hp, it only needs 2.5 seconds to reach 62 mph.
Porsche 917K
Porsche introduced the 917 in 1969. The car was built to win, and that’s exactly what it did. Thanks to its aerodynamic design and flat-12 engine, it dominated races at Le Mans and Daytona.
It even found some on-screen fame, as Steve McQueen famously drove a Porsche 917 in the movie Le Mans. Three of the 917 race cars were converted into road-legal spec, and they’re estimated to be worth around $20 million.
Porsche 959
Porsche built the 959 to be a Group B rally homologation special in the mid-1980s, but by the time it was ready, Group B rallying no longer existed. However, all was not lost, as Porsche decided to race the stylish sports car in the Paris — Dakar rally and at the Le Mans 24-hour race instead.
The Porsche 959 was jam-packed with tech, including hydraulically height-adjustable suspension, sequential turbos, a crawler gear, and a programmable AWD system, among other things. Packing 444-hp, it came very close to the 200 mph barrier, as its speedometer stopped at 197 mph.
Porsche 991 GT2 RS
Porsche built the 991 GT2 RS specifically to set lap records, which is reflected in its aggressive looks. It’s fair to say that it’s not the most beautiful 911, but it’s definitely a head-turner!
To ensure it lives up to the expectations set by its exterior, the GT2 RS packs a twin-turbocharged 3.8-liter flat-six engine that produces a whopping 690-hp and 553 lb-ft of torque. It’ll sprint to 62 mph in 2.8 seconds and even flew around the Nürburgring in 6 minutes 43.3 seconds, which was a new record for road-legal production cars.
Porsche 356 B Carrera GTL Abarth
Ferry Porsche created the original 356 in 1948, and it borrowed some mechanical parts from Volkswagen. However, the 356 B Carrera GTL Abarth is a totally different beast.
As its name suggests, the Porsche 356 B Carrera GTL Abarth was built with assistance from the Italian tuning gurus at Abarth. It looked nothing like the standard 356. It had a more aerodynamic design, and the body was made entirely from aluminum. The Furman quad-cam boxer engine delivered between 105 hp and 135 hp, depending on the spec.
Porsche 918 Spyder
The Porsche 918 Spyder is considered one-third of the “Holy Trinity” of hypercars, the other two being the LaFerrari and McLaren P1. This may just be the best mid-engined Porsche ever made, and as the company’s first sports car to feature hybrid technology, it was also ground-breaking.
Its hybrid drivetrain also elevated performance to a whole new level. It’s not powered by a V10 like the Carrera GT was, nor does it have Porsche’s traditional flat-six. Instead, the Spyder relies on a naturally aspirated, flat-plane crankshaft V8, and when combined with the two electric motors, it produced 886-hp and 944lb-ft.
Porsche 718 RSK
Today, the 718 designation is used on Porsche’s Boxster and Cayman lineup, but it was first used from 1957 to 1962 on an open-top, mid-engined, sports racing car. RSK stands for RennSport, or racing sport, and the K is for the car’s revised torsion bar suspension.
It was an evolution of the Porsche 550, so it used the 142-hp 1.5-liter quad-cam engine introduced in the 550A. Porsche eventually built several versions of the 718, including a coupe and open-wheel single-seat race cars.
