Lebanon. Customers, enthusiasts and the public took part in Porsche Centre Lebanon’s 70 years of Porsche sports cars celebrations. Forming part of the first Sports Car Together Day global calendar of events, the ‘Classic Meets New’ showcase took place on 9th and 10th of June. Hosted at Zaitunay Bay, attendees witnessed a display featuring seven decades of some of Porsche’s most iconic models.
Aimed at bringing fans and owners together to share their passion for Porsche, the event celebrated the registration of the brand’s first road-approved vehicle, the 356 “No.1” Roadster on June 8, 1948 – representing the birth of the Stuttgart-based manufacturer.
During the event, Assaad Raphael, Chairman and General Manager of Porsche Centre Lebanon, commented: “Porsche has been synonymous with sports car construction at the very highest level for 70 years. Sports Car Together Day is the perfect way for Lebanon to mark this major milestone. We were delighted to invite Porsche Club Members, enthusiasts and the public to experience the historic seven decades of Porsche, with unique displays throughout the weekend, in celebration of the brand’s history. Porsche Centre Lebanon is proud to be part of this history, and in celebration of this landmark moment, we produced and released a range of images and a video showcasing Lebanon’s passion for Porsche. I encourage all to watch and share this content which they will find across our social media channels.”
The history of the Porsche brand began in 1948, yet the foundation of the sports car manufacturer is built upon the life’s work of Professor Ferdinand Porsche. He had already designed pioneering innovations for the automotive industry as early as the start of the last century. In 1900, he built an electric car with a wheel hub drive known as the Lohner-Porsche, a vehicle on which he would then base the world’s first all-wheel-drive passenger car.
In the same year, he created a template for hybrid vehicles with the development of a mixed petrol-electric powertrain. In 1931, Ferdinand Porsche founded his own engineering office. The “Berlin-Rome Car” showcased in 1939 was the beginning of his idea for a sports car bearing the Porsche name, although this dream was only realised by his son Ferry in 1948 with the Type 356.
The successor model to the 356, the Porsche 911 designed by Ferry Porsche’s son Ferdinand Alexander, finally gave the company its breakthrough as one of the leading manufacturers of sports cars in the world, both from a technical and a design perspective. The Porsche 911, presented to the global public for the first time in 1963, has now been built over a million times.
In keeping with Porsche’s reputation, the Porsche Centre Lebanon event showcased seven decades of truly unique sports cars models, from 1950s classics to the latest models of today.