You’ve most likely heard of the Porsche automobile, and possibly you have even ridden in one or possibly own one. But you are quite possibly unfamiliar with the background of Porsche. The starting point of the Porsche auto’s history is difficult to pinpoint with any assurance. Around 1950, the Porsche 356 ended up being introduced to the United States by Max Hoffman, but 1948 was the year that the first automobile was released that had the name Porsche. But the actual beginning of the Porsche history was probably in 1875, when, in a Bohemian village called Haffersrdorp, a son was born to the local tinsmith.
He was known as Ferdinand Porsche, and even though his technical genius wasn’t thought to have the necessary discipline for the skills of engineering. The only formal education he had was some part-time learning in engineering in Vienna, and when he was 25 he turned to automibile design for a career. He became a brilliant engineer, but temperamental, as he became linked to all of the leading car manufacturers in Germany, at one time or another. A dozen of the most technically important vehicles ever were designed by Porsche. The SSK line, produced with his aide while he worked for Mercedez-Benz, is still one of the most awe-inspiring ever.
Porsche eventually established his own engineering consulting team, which became Porsche A.G., after he was let go from Mercedes. He had been hostile to their engineering policies and was eventually asked to resign. A selection of people with outstanding skills agreed to join him, and he had a preference for racing cars and sports cars. He and his crew were kept incredibly busy, and one project was developed for Steyr, which was the Austrian luxury sedan. The furthest the application had gotten was to the prototype stage. Their team also did a lot of work for Auto Union, which is now Audi, the company that first developed economy cars with front-wheel drive.
Their organization produced the supercharged V-12 and V-16 engines for the mid-engine Grand Prix cars. Auto racing in Europe had been ruled by them for close on 10 years, along with the Mercedes-Benz racer. For a time following that, NSU and Zundapp each used their best-known designs. A couple of Porsche’s designs were setting up the engine at the rear, and the torsion-bar suspension patented by them. Neither company constructed the concepts fast enough for Porsche, so he made a sale of the plan to the German government. The creation of his design eventually happened at Wolfsburg, in a manufacturing facility the building of which was supervised by Porsche. The world got to know it as the Volkswagen Beetle, but he identified it simply as the Type 60 on his blueprints.
It’s now more than a 100 years later, and the Porsche engineering organization has positioned its mark on the automobile industry. There is no doubt that Porsche and his relatives have left the auto design and engineering disciplines an admirable and lasting legacy.