Porsche 1964 BP/Dunlop/Bosch Helmet
Porsche is, without doubt, one of the most popular marques in the world. In fact, according to their own website Porsche is the largest and most traditional Sports Car manufacturer and the most profitable automotive manufacturer in the world. It’s not a surprise. Let’s face it everyone loves Porsche’s sleek and elegant designs, the cars are fast and reliable and whilst there is no such thing as a cheap Porsche, they are a reasonable price when compared to many other Sports Car makes. The Porsche is a classic car that every person wants to have.
Not everyone can afford a new Porsche but everyone can afford our Porsche 1964 World Championship poster.
Porsche Weltmeisterschaft plakat 1964
This Porsche Weltmeisterschaft plakat 1964 also known as the Porsche World Championship poster was created by Erich Strenger. During his 36 year partnership with marque, Strenger’s many poster designs were instrumental in shaping the image of Porsche we know today.
This poster was produced to promote the company by announcing Porsche’s victory’s at the 1964 Wold Championships. It is often said that the simplest ideas are the best. This could easily apply to this Porsche racing poster. The image is simply a green racing helmet, with a list of Porsche’s 1964 victory’s painted on the side, and we love it.
The movie star Steve McQueen was a huge fan of motor racing. In fact he was a full-blown racing driver through and through. He was also a huge fan of Porsche cars. At various stages of his career, he owned a Porsche 356 Speedster, Porsche 911S, Porsche 911T, a 930 Turbo and a Porsche 917K. The connection goes further though. McQueen’s face was used, along with an image of the Gulf Porsche 908, on two McQueen Drives Porsche posters created by Erich Strenger in 1970. Photographs exist of McQueen in 1964 with a green racing helmet similar to the one in Strenger’s poster. Could seeing the King of Cool in his green racing helmet have influenced Strenger for this design?
Strenger’s Porsche helmet poster design provides a list of Porsche’s 1964 victories as: World Championship GT-2000cc, European Hillclimb Championship and the International Prototype Trophy. A successful year indeed. However, Strengers design and the use of three languages suggests far more on first glance. Not that’s clever marketing.
Porsche posters and Erich Strenger
It’s no secret that Porsche preferred to invest money in motorsport to promote their brand, rather than spend the money at advertising agencies for expensive adverts. Right from the start of the company Porsche chose to promote itself through its racing successes. In 1951, the company employed the services of a young German freelance graphic designer named Erich Strenger. His first commission was a brochure for the Porsche 356 Coupe. He continued working with Porsche for the next 36 years!
In 1951, Fritz Werner von Hanstein joined Porsche. At the time he was better known as former German racing car driver, Huschke von Hanstein. In 1940, Hanstein together with Walter Baümerhad won the Mille Miglia in a BMW 328 Coupe.
Streger’s new role at Porsche was that of Public Relations Manager and Chief of the Racing Department. Porsche were passionate about motor racing and would enter into almost every race they could. From Formula 1, Daytona, Spa, Targa Florio, Monte-Carlo rally, Sebring, Le Mans to countless endurance races and mountain championships.
It was Hanstein that made the decision for Strenger to create a poster for every race Porsche were successful in. Every victory was seized upon as an opportunity to gain publicity. When Porsche succeeded it was down to Streger to produce a poster to publicise the achievement. In his Porsche Victory Posters, Streger created a style unique to Porsche. His modern, graphic style, superb imagery and innovative typography made Porsche stand out.
As it says on the newsroom.porsche.com website ‘Strengers inexhaustible creativity, his meticulous craftsmanship and his love of the automobile led to an extensive life’s work which has had a lasting effect on the image f Porsche around the world’. We are inclined to agree.
