901 vs 911

The story of Porsche having to rename its new 901 sports car after a legal challenge from Peugeot is now legendary. The French automotive company held the rights for a three-digit vehicle name where the middle digit was zero, and so the 901 name had to go.

The 901 became the 911 on 2 November 1964, by which time Porsche had already built 82 vehicles of a total production run of 235 for that year. Those 82 cars were promptly rebadged, though in reality there are little differences between 901s and 911s built in 1964.

However, these early 911s all share differences with cars from 1965 onwards. For example, the 901 features chrome horn grills with a four-screw fixing, while inside the African mahogany dashboard trim is bereft of the ‘911’ badge that later cars gained. The decklid features a gold, two-part ‘Porsche’ script, again without the slanted ‘911’ that was added in 1965.

Most intriguingly, the decklid grille on 1964 cars is 20mm deep rather than 15mm. The 20mm item is effectively a carry-over from the 356, and when fitted to the 911 doesn’t fit flush with the decklid (unlike the 15mm grille).