Best-selling author Randy Leffingwell celebrates a half-century of one of the world’s premiere sports cars, focusing on the major themes that have defined Porsche’s rear-engined wonder.

Porsche 911: 50 Yearstells the whole storydesign and development,racing and competition,engineering and technology,style and culture. All the iconic 911 models are included:

• Theoriginal 901 prototypethat set the standard
• The legendaryRS modelsthat made the little Porsche a dominant force on the world’s racetracks
• The infamousTurbo, the car that kept the performance flame alight during the dark, dismal decade of the 1970s
• The fabled959, the model that redefined the term “sports car”
• The993, last of the original air-cooled models
• The996,997, and991, the liquid-cooled cars that brought the 911 into a new millennium

Beyond tellingthe story of the cars,Porsche 911: 50 yearsalso spotlights the people behind them: Ferdinand “Butzi” Porsche, the son of legendary Porsche founderFerdinand “Ferry” Porsche, who co-designed the instantly recognizable 911 shape;Peter W. Schutz, the Porsche CEO who saved the 911 from extinction; andDr. Helmuth Bott, the engineering genius behind many of the groundbreaking technologies that have defined the 911, including fuel injection, turbocharging, and all-wheel-drive.

Leffingwell also tells the story of the911 communitythe clubs and culture that surround the car.

Together, all of these facets makePorsche 911: 50 Yearsthe most essential book in any Porsche owner or fan’s library.Randy Leffingwellwrote his first book,American Muscle, while still on staff at theLos Angeles Times.The book examinedTimes publisher Otis Chandlers growing collection of muscle cars.American Musclepublished in September 1990, jump-started a love of book creation that ultimately led Leffingwell to leave theTimesin 1995. By then, he and Motorbooks had publishedPorsche Legends, and six other books.

Since 1990, Leffingwell has authored more than 60 titles, most of them automotive-oriented. Over 30-plus years, these include a dozen Porsche titles ranging from general overviewsPorsche 75 Years: Expect the Unexpected, andThe Complete Book of Porsche 911to deeper explorations inPorsche TurboandPorsche 911: 50 Years. During this time, he has regularly traveled to Germany to continue his research regarding Porsches history. To date, Leffingwell has interviewed more than 200 Porsche engineers, stylists, model makers, racers, and managers.

While he has tackled other subjects including John Deere tractors, Harley-Davidson motorcycles, and West Coast lighthouses, Leffingwell admits he is almost addicted to the Porsche story. In addition to his book work, he is historical editor for000magazine andPorschePanorama. And for the past decade he has been researching and writing an encyclopedic history of Porsches motorsports endeavors.