Original 911 / F-Body

On 12 September 1963, at the Frankfurt IAA, a two-seat-plus-two coupé with a flat-six behind the rear axle was presented as the successor to the 356 — but under the name 901. At the Paris Salon that October, Peugeot objected: it held the French trademark on three-digit model numbers with a zero in the middle. Porsche renamed the car 911 for all markets rather than sell a different name in France alone, keeping the 901 prefix on engine and parts numbers for years. Series production began in September 1964. Porsche's own model history states that 82 units were built as 901 before the switch, though Porsche Museum collection manager Alexander Klein has argued that number is a long-repeated error inherited from a misread record.

The first-generation 911 arrived with something the 356 never had: two fold-down rear seats, a large luggage compartment and a 1,991 cc air-cooled SOHC flat-six making 130 PS and a stated 210 km/h. Porsche kept the rear-engined layout and the cooling-less boxer, and both became trademarks of the line. Over ten years the range grew from the plain 911 to the 911 S (160 PS, 1967), 911 T, 911 L and 911 E, the Targa safety cabriolet (1967), the semi-automatic Sportomatic four-speed (1967), the 57 mm longer wheelbase (from MY1969), Kugelfischer/Bosch mechanical fuel injection (1969), the 2.2-litre engines (1970), the 2.4-litre engines with the new Type 915 gearbox (1972) and the 2.7-litre Carrera RS that closed the era. With the T, E and S, Porsche became the first German manufacturer to meet US EPA emissions standards, and the Carrera RS 2.7 carried the first rear spoiler fitted as standard to a production car. Total first-generation production was 81,100 cars. The generation also proved itself in competition: a class-winning debut at the 1965 Monte Carlo Rally, three 911 S 2.2 (ST) cars finishing 1st, 2nd and 4th there in January 1970, and a production Carrera RS winning the 1972 Targa Florio against prototypes from Ferrari and Alfa Romeo.