Porsche celebrates 70 years with 911 Speedster

Porsche has revealed a new Speedster concept based on its current 911 to celebrate seven decades of sports car making.

Based on the latest 991 version of the 911, the Speedster is clearly inspired by the original 356 Speedster that was made between 1954-1958.

Featuring a chopped, more steeply-raked, front windscreen, the modern day Speedster ditches its rear seats and adopts a new double-bubble cover that both saves weight and hides a lightweight fabric roof.

Other changes include new bullet-shaped door mirrors and revised headlamp covers that pay tribute to the original 356 Speedster racer cars that competed in the US.

A third floating brake light, that spells out 'Porsche', plus large 21-inch 'Fuch'-style alloy wheels complete the exterior changes over the 911 Carrera 4 Cabriolet body the concept is based on.

Sporting a silver and white paintjob, the 911 Speedster carries '70' race numbers, that mark Porsche's 70th anniversary.

Inside the Speedster, which is said to have been created for purists, the interior has been stripped back to save weight. That's why there's a pair of lightweight carbon-fibre bucket seats that are wrapped in light brown leather.

The weight-saving continues with Porsche deleting the standard car's infotainment system and air-conditioning.

Under the rear bonnet, the Speedster comes equipped with the more powerful 368kW/460Nm 4.0-litre flat six-cylinder from the 911 GT3.

Maximising the performance of that powertrain is a chassis tune lifted by the track-suited GT3.

For now, Porsche claims the 911 Speedster is claimed to be purely a concept but an ultra-limited production run is expected to arrive in 2019.

It's not the first time the German car-maker has reincarnated the Speedster. Back in 1989 Porsche launched a Speedster based on its then 911 Carrera 3.2.

It followed up that car again in 1992 when another Speedster, based on the 964-generation, arrived that featured the 911's widebody Turbo body.

Porsche never sold a Speedster based on the last air-cooled '993' series 911 but it did produce a one-off in 1995 for Ferdinand Porsche's grandson, Butzi, for his 60th birthday.

Fans of paired-back open air 911s then had to wait until 2010 when the Speedster was once again reinvented.

Based on the 997, just 356 Speedsters were made painted in either 'Pure Blue' or 'Carrera White'.

It was the first Speedster to come with a lightweight roof that was claimed to be "completely watertight".