Porsche poised to revive its famous Speedster nameplate for a special edition of its Boxster sports car.
During high-speed testing at Germany’s Nurburgring race track, a Boxster with “speed humps” behind the seats has been snapped on camera. And the power bulges are similar, which is used in the most recent, 911-based Porsche Speedster from 1994.
In its history, Porsche has made only three Speedsters: the 356-based model 1954 to 1959, a 964 911-based model in 1989 and a 993 911-based model in 1993 and 1994.
The end of the year, it’s the 55th anniversary of the original, but Porsche has only until the end of this year to unveil the new model, if it make the anniversary.
According to the history books, the North American importer of Porsche cars in the 1950s requested a special, lightweight version of the 356 for customers on the West Coast “given the fair weather, cruising scene and lots of amateur racing”.
Instead of having electrically-operated fold-away fabric top , the Boxster Speedster will have a removable roof, which will save around 50kg.
Porsche is also believed to have given the Boxster Speedster more power.
It is not yet clear whether Porsche will squeeze more grunts out of the latest Boxster’s 3.4-litre six-cylinder engine, which has 228kW, or fit the 3.6-litre engine from the 911 Carrera, which has 254kW.
The Boxster S, costs $145,000 plus dealer and registration charges. It is expected that the Boxster Speedster would not cost below $160,000, the price of a Cayman S.
The original 356-based Speedster was powered by a number of engines ranging in size and power, from a 1300cc with 32kW to a 1600cc with 44kW; it weighs only about 760kg.
The 964-based model was powered by a 3.2-litre six-cylinder engine with 173kW which gave the car a 0 to 100km/h time of 6sec.
The 993-based model was powered by a 3.6-litre six-cylinder engine with 184kW which gave the car a 100km/h of 5.7sec.
The new model is expected to be faster than the previous one. The current Boxster S, when equipped with Porsche’s PDK twin clutch gearbox, completes the 0 to 100km/h dash in 5.3sec and has a top speed of 274km/h.
