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Between 14 September and 16 November 1964, 82 cars were built [1]and the 901 was presented in October at the 1964 Paris Auto Salon. There, French car maker Peugeot objected to Porsche using any three digit number where the middle number was 0, asserting ownership of the naming rights in key markets, and having already sold many models with that scheme.
So, Porsche simply replaced the middle 0 with a 1, and called the car Porsche 911. Officially the 901s already constructed were used for testing and for exhibitions, and Porsche sold none to private customers.[1] Nevertheless, several of the cars retained by Porsche at that time appear to have made it to private ownership subsequently: in 2010 it was reported that car number 37 was owned by a Porsche specialist named Alois Ruf.[1]
Also, other Porsche models were affected, which were primarily intended for racing but also sold as road legal cars. Here, Porsche kept the internal part number of 90x, but sold the car with a name, like
Porsche 904 as Carrera GTS
Porsche 906 as Carrera 6.
Porsche enthusiasts continue to refer to these cars by their three digit design numbers.
Later, Porsche introduced pure racing cars which were not sold for road use, so not competing with any road-going Peugeot. These carried the design numbers
Porsche 907
Porsche 908
Porsche 909
Additionally, the 901 number is used among Porsche enthusiasts as shorthand to identify the aluminum 5-Speed transmission used in early 911s, the part number for these transmissions used an 11 digit code that began with 901 as did many other parts on the early cars. Later 911s from 1969 used a different magnesium case and a part number beginning with 911.
in pratica la Peugeot si oppose che la macchina si chiamasse 901, perchè aveva lo zero al centro, prerogativa della nomenclatura Peugeot
La porsche allora sostituì lo zero con 1 e quindi la macchina si chiamò "911" come tutti la conosciamo.
Ovviamente all'interno della Porsche rimase il nome originario ma per la commercializzazione furono obbligati a chiamarla 911.
Questo discorso non valeva per i prototipi e per le auto da corsa che potevano utilizzare il numero con lo zero al centro, in quanto non erano auto per la produzione di serie e quindi per la vendita al pubblico.
Questo non avvenne con Ferrari. Infatti i forti legami di amicizia tra la famiglia Peugeot ed Enzo Ferrari, permisero al Drake di utilizzare i nomi con lo zero al centro per le mitiche:
206 (dino)
308 GT4
208 GT4
208 GTB/GTS
308 GTB/GTS
:):)
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