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Porsche 918 Spyder pre-production version in all its almost-done glory

Porsche continues the long tease of its upcoming 918 Spyder, with the latest instantiation here at the Pebble Beach Concours, with the car presented in pre-production form to the throngs on the golf course.
Just a few days ago Porsche dropped an image of the car on its official Twitter feed. True to that leak, this 918 looks damn near what we expect the full customer version to be when it is officially debuted in Frankfurt. The neon-green brake calipers are items new to this version of the 918, and seem to be an identical color to those found on the Panamera S E-Hybrid.
When it shows up as a drivable piece, expect the Porsche supercar, with its gasoline-electric drivetrain, to be pretty insane. Horsepower in excess of 800 ponies will be available with a toe-tap, while the price of entry is expected to come within shouting distance of $850,000. A good deal for Porsche to bring the thing to Pebble then, where buyers with that kind of cash are think on the ground (and most likely wearing sherbet-colored trousers).

Porsche suspends 911 GT3 deliveries amidst fears of spontaneous combustion

Seeing pictures of Italian supercars burst into flames by the side of the road, as our compatriots at Axis of Oversteer point out, has become something of a usual sight. But a Porsche? Surely those meticulous German engineers have got that taken care of, right?
Not necessarily. Reports coming in from Europe indicate that no fewer than five 911 GT3 coupes have "spontaneously combusted" in the past few weeks, prompting Porsche to launch an investigation. In the meantime, they've reportedly ceased deliveries of the new GT3 while they try to determine what the problem is and work to rectify it.
We wouldn't be surprised to see a recall issued once the problem is resolved, but for now, we'd encourage existing owners to be extra vigilant behind the wheel - or better yet, leave their cars in the garage for the time being. You wouldn't want to drive a 475-horsepower rear-drive sports car through a Polar Vortex, anyway, right?

1949 Gm?nd Porsche shows the birth of an icon

The Austrian village of Gmünd is more than just difficult to pronounce; it's also the birthplace of the Porsche brand. Before the company ever started building sports cars at its current home base near Stuttgart, the fledgling business completed several vehicles in the tiny town in Southern Austria. In this video, former Pikes Peak International Hill Climb champion Jeff Zwart takes a look at a 1949 Gmünd coupe to see how the company has evolved since its earliest days.
The thing to note about the Gmünd-built Porsches is their absolute design simplicity. The phrase "form follows function" gets bandied around a lot, but it really means something when you look at these early cars. However, the minimalism was partially out of necessity. The vehicles were meant to be sporty but certainly weren't rockets. Power came courtesy of a modified Volkswagen Beetle engine, and anything extraneous would have slowed the models down. Scroll down to watch Zwart go back in time to Porsche's beginnings.