Frank M. Orel

Frank M. Orel and the Legend of Porsche

Racecars are his passion. Stuttgart native Frank M. Orel has been photographing high-class automobiles since the early 1970s. His books on the legend of Porsche represent a unique symbiosis of technology and aesthetics. He has managed to tell the story of Porsche by affording us an up-close experience with their racecars.

His series Porsche Historics was developed in collaboration with the Porsche Museum of Stuttgart. Orel hand-colored the historical archival photos, thus expanding upon their artistic value.

The arrival of the legendary Porsche 550 Spyder in New York on its way to the Carrera Pan-Americana Tour in 1953 has now become an exclusive adventure of discovery. The fulminant victory lap after the 24-hour race in Le Mans in 1995, celebrated triumphantly by no less than five Porsche cars, takes on an even more commanding aesthetic.

Most unforgettable perhaps was the victory parade after the 1968 rally in Monte Carlo, at which the Porsche 911 T-model was grandly parked before the VIP box of the prince. What is consistent in all of these moments in history is the aura of the historical car bodies and the excitement of such singular autos. The Targa Florio looks like a messenger from the future in a nostalgic atmosphere as it flies around the breathtaking turns of a Sicilian mountain village