Ferdinand Porsche

The Porsche models of 1996 are the direct legacy of Ferdinand Porsche and his belief in what an automobile should be. Though he died in 1951 after having seen only a relative handful of Type 356s produced, he no doubt would have approved enthusiastically of 1996's Carrera, Targa and Turbo. They are, like every Porsche before them, the products of engineering innovation, careful development and diligent craftsmanship.

The first vehicle to bear the Porsche name created a sensation when it debuted at the Paris Exposition in 1900. Called the Lohner-Porsche, it was a battery-powered two-seater that used electric motors in the front wheel hubs for the tractive force. The hub motors were designed by Ferdinand Porsche, just 25 years old at the time. As his employer, Mr. Lohner, boasted to the press: "He is very young, but he is a man with a big career before him. You will hear of him again."

In the first car design of Ferdinand Porsche, the direction of a lifetime's work was evident. With a lightweight chassis and a low center of gravity, the production car had a sporting purpose, while a racing version (capable of a blistering 37 mph top speed) was also planned.
In 1906, the Austrian branch of the Daimler Motor Co. hired Porsche as its new Technical Director. Over the next two decades, he designed a number of landmark cars, eventually assuming the position of Chief Engineer at Daimler headquarters in 1923. Almost immediately, one of Dr. Porsche's Mercedes designs proved itself in the heat of competition, winning in the 1924 Targa Florio.

While at Daimler-Benz, Porsche was also responsible for one of the most sensational motorcars of all time -- the Mercedes-Benz S-series. Essentially street-legal racing machines, the great Mercedes-Benz S, SS and SSK models of the late 1920s were bought by gentlemen and sportsmen who wanted speed and comfort. In Hollywood, Zeppo Marx had an SSK, the supercharged version that was especially coveted -- just 31 were ever produced.

At the same time, Dr. Porsche proposed a mass-produced Mercedes-Benz that drivers of modest means could afford -- a radical idea that the Daimler-Benz Board of Directors turned down.
Frustrated by the conservative nature of his employer, Porsche quit. As Ferry Porsche, Ferdinand's son and successor, noted years later: "My father found that when he signed a contract with a firm, they could live another ten years on his designs, but he couldn't."
With financial backing from investors, Ferdinand finally went into business for himself. On March 6th, 1931, Porsche Konstruktionburo für Motoren-Fahrzeug-Luftfahrzeug und Wasserfahrzeugbau was established in Stuttgart, Germany. The firm would specialize in the design of automobile, aircraft and ship engines.

Soon, Porsche and his designers began preliminary work on the vehicle that would eventually become the Volkswagen. In a series of prototypes created throughout the mid-1930s, it's easy to see the Porsche philosophy in practice: start with a radical design concept, and through a painstaking process of evolution, prove the engineering integrity of each component. (Porsche designed, built and tested 20 different engines before coming back to the starting point: an air-cooled four-stroke flat four.)
As a testament to the Porsche design process, one only need consider this: the basic Volkswagen "Bug" remains in production today, some sixty years later, by VW in Latin America.
During this time, Porsche designed three aerodynamic coupe versions of the VW for racing, the Berlin-Rome rally cars. It's easy to see why they are considered prototypes of the Porsche coupes produced a decade later.
In 1938, the Porsche firm moved to new headquarters in Zuffenhausen, just outside of Stuttgart. When war engulfed Europe, Porsche was involved in the design of a number of projects that included farm tractors.
By 1946, Ferry Porsche and his sister Louise Piech were involved in the family business, and together with their father, they renewed the plans for a sports car based on the VW design.

Performance was always central to Ferdinand and Ferry's concept of automobile design. So it was natural that in the postwar years, when Porsche finally had an opportunity to build a car of its own, they built a sports car. That vehicle was the legendary Type 356. Production began in the Spring of 1948 in Gmund, Austria, where the Porsche firm had temporarily relocated towards the end of the war.
As with every Porsche since, Porsche No.1 followed the Porsche philosophy. The car was light, aerodynamic, responsive and possessed excellent manners. Its air-cooled engine was located behind the driver but forward of the rear axle centerline. These have been the characteristics that have made Porsche unique. And they continue to make Porsche the most envied and desirable car on the market.
Dr. Porsche died in 1951 after seeing his dream of a Porsche sports car become a reality.

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