Capsule collection
In a dusty depository behind Porsche HQ hides the evidence of a severe hoarding disorder
Porsche likes to share its remarkable past with pretty much anyone. But there is one place so secretive that only a handful of people are allowed inside.
This inconspicuous industrial building, nestled away behind the main corporate façade of Porsche’s Zuffenhausen headquarters, is known simple as: the warehouse. And what lies within is an unparalleled treasure trove for the true Porsche enthusiast.
This is where the company keeps, in essence, absolutely everything else.
First there’s the factory museum, and then there’s this. Behind heavy, unmarked doors, beneath minimal lighting and an inch of dust lies every car that has a link to the marque: its obscure racers, one-off concepts, prototype chassis and everything in between. The warehouse is not open to the public for the simple reason that the sort of person keen to come would need medical attention the minute he crossed the threshold.
There is no ceremony in the warehouse whatsoever, which adds to its unaffected sense of mystery and wonder. Cars are squeezed tight into stackable open boxing, piled upon one another with no order or priority. There is no signage, no numbering, nothing. Iconic championship winners sit cheek-by-jowl with mothballed projects and promotional obscurities.
Many of the older cars are draped in dustsheets, and what lies beneath is utterly unpredictable. Under one is a bespoke 356 commissioned for an Austrian diplomat. Under the next is an 804, Porsche’s single foray in Formula 1. Higher up are trans-axle GT racers from the early 1980s, alongside road-going brethren like the mega-mileage 944 that Porsche punished for 1,000km a day for 365 days of the year, just to prove that it could.
Everywhere you turn there is something new and unexpected. Elevated on a packing box is the pristine white bodywork of a 917-30 Can-Am racer, chassis number 001. It was never finished and remains as immaculate as the day it was built more than 40 years ago.
In one corner sits a Mercedes G-Class, bedecked in Rothman’s livery. This was the support vehicle for Jacky Ickx’s Porsche entry in the Paris-Dakar. Under the hood, inevitably you might say, is the 4.5-litre V8 from a 928.
Things get even more obscure, too. Porsche’s only motorbike is also here, a skunkworks project by a Porsche employee who used his downtime to design and purpose-build a frame to hold the flat-four from a 356.
Beyond that is Walther Rohrl’s 924 Carrera GTS, sat amidst pre-war tractors, disguised test mules and Indy cars driven by the likes of Mario Andretti. And sticking out like the proverbial sore thumb is a three-box Lada, evidence of a short-lived collaboration with the Soviet firm back in the late 1970s. But this weird little Lada somehow defines the whole place.
There is no pretension here, no showmanship or pomp. This warehouse is a physical document of what Porsche was, is and always will be. The myriad parts that make up a fascinating whole.
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Comments (6)
Will these cars ever be driven again or are they destined to be in there forever
Great and fun article to read.
😀
Great article. I never knew a flat four motorcycle ever existed. I'd love to spend a weekend living in that warehouse.
Hmmm....which keys shall we take first!?