No single watershed event led Tobias Aichele to his passion for Porsches. Rather, it was the perfectly normal dream to drive a 911 — perhaps even to own one. Soon, the dream became desire. After becoming infected with the automobile virus in his eighteenth year and gaining experience with unusual and exceptional cars, the desire became a reality in 1985.

Aichele bought the 911 with little knowledge of its equipment. No one could provide information on this early example and, as became apparent during the car’s restoration, few spare parts were available for it.

Meanwhile, Tobias Aichele had finished his master’s degree in business administration (thesis title: "The Motoring Press") and successfully completed an internship at Motor Presse Stuttgart. Within the framework of two special publications — Alles über Porsche 911 ("All about the Porsche 911") and Alles über Porsche ("All About Porsche") — he had become thoroughly familiar with the sports car maker of Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen. Nevertheless, Aichele soon had a number of good reasons to delve deeper into the history of this legendary sports car and write a book on the topic.

Although there were many books on Porsche (more than a hundred titles, in fact), there was no single, current, comprehensive work on the 911. There was no book that answered every question and clearly detailed every change in the course of three decades of production. No book that listed every special model, or told in detail how, and under what conditions, the 911 was created, or chronicled the history of every single prototype. The market begged for a book free of sweeping generalizations, but with concrete facts and a solid base of information on the personalities behind this unique sports car project. This took place in the summer of 1992.

Tobias Aichele published his book, Porsche 911: Forever Young (Fig. 2, dust jacket enclosed) just in time for the thirtieth anniversary of the Porsche 911, and just before the market introduction of the new Carrera — the car, known internally as the Type 993, which would carry the 911 tradition into the future. The book soon became a best seller. For months, it topped the German nonfiction charts, while reviewers lavished it with praise.

From 1993 to 1996, Aichele once again worked behind the scenes at Porsche, but this time as an employee. As chief domestic press officer, he was involved in the market introduction of the 911 Carrera (993) and its derivative models, the Cabrio, Tiptronic, Turbo, Targa and 4S. He participated in the economic turnaround of the company, finally deciding to turn his nine years of publishing experience and four years in the press department into an independent press agency. "Tobias Aichele Communication" quickly established itself in the market as a special agency for public relations, words and photos.

In view of the fact that the nearly fifty-year history of the company could fill volumes, capturing the Porsche mystique in words and photographs in just 208 pages presented a great challenge for Aichele. Careful choices had to be made. Visual presentation was given the highest priority, and highest demands were placed on the book’s graphics. Aichele was forced to slip into the role of publisher; only in this way could he ensure that the photographic quality and, of course, the graphic design would set new standards. Uncompromisingly, the book used only new, original photographs, scanned at double the usual resolution and printed to exacting quality control standards.

Again, the finished product made a lasting impression, and reviewers waxed euphoric:

"...a book which is a treat for all the senses.
One gently removes it from its slipcase,
feels the quality and perceives the competence with which it was created,
inhales a photo here, tastes a bit of text there,
finds people who carry the name Porsche or love Porsche or live Porsche,
hears the engines and feels the wind in one’s hair,
smells the hot oil on the engine case and the sun on the paintwork,
leafs through from front to back and from back to front again,
and soon one has lost track of time and space..."

(Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, December 10, 1996)

Mythos Porsche, while so far only available in German, is already known beyond the borders of its homeland. When King Hussein of Jordan, a well-known sports car collector and longtime fan of Porsche, expressed great interest in the book, he received an autographed example.

The photographic quality of Mythos Porsche was so exceptional that the next idea virtually presented itself: Aichele created his "Forever Young Collection," which displays motifs from the book as postcards and posters. These will soon be joined by Mercedes themes.
The author has found an especially open-minded partner in Reinhard Stammer of P.A.R.C-Verlag, who presents his products in a special Tobias Aichele category.

In his constant search for new horizons, Aichele may well have created the most unique Porsche book in the world. A special edition of Mythos Porsche was printed, limited to 100 copies with the following features:

• gray instead of red linen binding
• all books numbered, i.e. 3/100
• special insert photo of racing legends Hans Herrmann and Herbert Linge
• photo autographed by Herrmann and Linge
• folded Boxster poster included
• hand-stitched leather slipcase in genuine Porsche leather, color chosen individually by customer

The book numbered 1/100 was personally presented to Professor Ferdinand Porsche by the author.