THE FRENCH CONNECTION

The French Connection

Taking a look at a rare Sonauto 911 from the early days of French Porsches.

Though at a glance it looks a standard late 60s 911, a tiny emblem at the rear marks it out as part of a far larger story. The gold lettering reads “Sonauto”, underlined by a street address in Paris where there’s still a Porsche showroom today. Back then however, Porsche didn’t have an official presence in France, so you bought one instead from Auguste Veuillet, one of the great names in mid-century European endurance racing and proprietor of Sonauto.

This arrangement was quite normal at the time, with Porsche relying on third party organisations to represent them abroad. Japan had Mitsuwa, Italy had Autogerma and the US had Max Hoffman. Hoffman in particular was remembered for convincing Porsche to build the 356 Speedster, but even that pales in comparison to the mark that Veuillet had on the young German carmaker.

In late 1950, Veuillet met with Ferdinand Porsche at the Paris Motor Show, where he managed to persuade him to enter a 356 into the 24hrs of Le Mans. Porsche himself wouldn’t live to see the race the following year, but his son Ferry, then in charge of the company, kept the partnership going so that Veuillet himself could drive the first Porsche at Le Mans, taking a class victory in a streamlined Pre-A 356. Since that first outing, Porsche has gone on to win a record number of victories at Le Mans and the race remains the crown jewel in the company’s vast motorsport legacy.

In 1973, Sonauto’s status as the official importer of France ended so that Porsche themselves could take charge, but they carried on long after as a privateer racing team and a constructor of track-prepped Porsches. Many of the cars that originally bore the Sonauto emblem have had it removed at some stage, usually in misguided restorations or by owners who didn’t understand the value in it. In this 1968 911S however, the badge remains, alongside its authentic French yellow headlight lenses. So even though the car currently lives in Italy, it still holds a connection with the Parisian importer that first put it into the world.