Local celebrations for 911's 50th anniversary year to include 100-car procession across Sydney landmark

Porsche will commandeer an entire lane of the Sydney Harbour Bridge on September 15, as part of celebrations to mark the 911’s 50th birthday this year.

A 100-strong procession of privately owned 911s covering all seven generations of the iconic sports car will take to the Sydney landmark, with the blessing of harbourside local police command.

The cavalcade will include a 1967 version of the original 901-series 911 from the Porsche Museum in Germany. The first 911 will make appearances in a number of other countries as part of the model’s 50th anniversary celebrations this year, but the Sydney event will be its only dynamic display.

Starting at 8:00am on the Sunday, the 911 procession will travel north to Taronga Zoo and is expected to span 1.5km.

The event will be filmed by helicopter in a publicity event that motoring.com.au understands will cost Porsche Cars Australia up to $150,000.

Events marking five decades of the 911 were also held at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in July and at Pebble Beach in California earlier this month.

The first 911, the Type 901, made its debut at the 1963 Frankfurt motor show as a successor to the famed 356, and Porsche’s seventh-generation (991-series) 911 went on sale here in February last year.

Australia has one of the highest market penetrations of 911 sales globally and also attracts a disproportionate number of Turbo and GT models, officially ranking it as an “enthusiast” market in the eyes of Porsche AG.

The sixth-generation 911 Turbo and Turbo S were launched in Germany this week and go on sale here in December.

Porsche will release a special model to mark the milestone in Australia — the 911 50th Anniversary Edition – around the same time.

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