I have been looking for an original of this much reproduced vintage poster for quite some time and was fortunate enough to find a mint copy of this highly collectible piece through Morry at The Collector’s Studio in Toronto. 

The poster itself is 43 years old  (discolouration inevitable due to age) and is verified as authentic with provenance from a noted collector’s personal archive. Measuring 30” x 40”, it was issued by the Porsche factory in May 1970 and was printed in Stuttgart. I’ve not been able to confirm exactly how many copies of the original were printed but through unsubstantiated sources, it would appear to be 200. 

In the 1970 12 Hours of Sebring race, Peter Revson and Steve McQueen (driving with a cast on his left foot from a motorcycle accident two weeks before) won with a Porsche 908/02 in the 3 litre class and missed winning overall by 23 seconds to Mario Andretti/Ignazio Giunti/Nino Vaccarella in a 5 litre Ferrari 512S. The same Porsche 908 was entered by Mcqueen’s production company (Solar Productions) as a camera car for Le Mans in the 1970 24 Hours of Le Mans later that year. 

The poster artist was Erich Strenger (1922-1993) who was employed by Porsche to design and produce showroom sales brochures, posters and other advertising material having started with work to promote the sale of the type 356. Porsche continued to promote their race victories in their advertising materials and the illustrator and artist designed all the factory posters up until around a decade before his death in January 1993.  

The poster is currently undertaking conservation repairs with Graham Bignell whereupon direct intervention will see it washed and linen backed following which it will be framed and hung. 

If you are interested in the Porsche factory posters (of which there are many beautiful designs), one of the best books on the subject is by Jürgen  Lewandowski entitled ‘Die Rennplakate - Von 1951 bis heute - O’. There is an earlier book entitled ‘Porsche Plakate, Posters, Affiches’ which in itself is rare and expensive and was originally published in 1984.