Happy anniversary: Porsche at 60 and Lola at 50 ...
Dear Ultimatecarpage.com visitor,
Although it has not received much publicity, Porsche celebrates its 60th anniversary years. British racing car manufacturer Lola, on the other hand, have thrown a big party to celebrate their golden jubilee earlier this month. Today we would like to pay tribute to these great companies by taking an in-depth look at the vital, very first cars produced by the two.
For Porsche, the 356/1 Roadster really was not the first car the Austrian born family had produced, but most importantly it was the very first to bear the Porsche name. The silver two-seater's name and appearance may suggest that it was the prototype for the familiar range of 356 road and racing cars. Under the aluminum skin the first Porsche is actually quite different, sporting a tubular spaceframe and a mid-mounted engine. For practical and economic reasons, the Porsches decided to use the Volkswagen derived platform chassis for the production car. Setting a great Porsche motorsport tradition, the 356/1 Roadster won its class at its first outing. Now 60 years later the unique machine is still owned by Porsche and shown quite regularly. We caught up with it earlier this year at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.
By the time Eric Broadley assembled the very first Lola, Porsche was a well established manufacturer of road and racing cars. Built in the proverbial garden shed (a local garage in this case), the Mk1 Prototype actually shared many design elements with the first Porsche. Of course ten years of development made a lot of difference, but both cars used a four cylinder engine, spaceframe chassis and simple aluminum skin. With Broadley behind the wheel, the fabulous little Lola immediately made an impression. Orders came rolling in shortly after its racing debut and by 1959 Broadley was a car manufacturer. In the following years, Mk1s scored class victories on legendary tracks like the Nurburgring and at Sebring. Nearly forty examples were eventually built, many of which are still raced today. Like the first Porsche, the Prototype Mk1 has survived and is regularly campaigned. Our gallery shows it in action during the 2008 Goodwood Festival of Speed.
Enjoy the links:
[url=http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/car/3879/Porsche-356-1-Roadster.html]1948 Porsche 356/1 Roadster - Images, Specifications and Information[/url]
[url=http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/car/3880/Lola-Mk1--Climax-Prototype.html]1958 Lola Mk1 Climax Prototype - Images, Specifications and Information[/url]
Regards,
Wouter Melissen
