The history of the Porsche

The history of the Porsche company began long before Ferdinand Porsche thought of starting his own auto manufacturing business.

As a young engineer, he designed the first electric/gasoline hybrid in 1900.

Over his career, he worked with Daimler, Mercedes, Daimler-Benz, Volkswagen, Auto Union, and others for nearly 50 years.

His independent design firm was even responsible for the creation of the Volkswagen Beetle in 1931.

It seems appropriate that Ferdinand was born while his father was at a race.

As he got older, he became a draftsman and test driver at his father’s firm, but he was most instrumental in the design of the first ever Porsche, the 356 which Ferdinand worked on while his father spent 20 months in a prison in Dijon, France, as a war criminal.

Ferdinand had also been arrested but was soon released. To keep the family firm afloat, he designed race cars and this first-ever Porsche sports car.

The 356

The first Porsche 356 had a rear-mounted, souped-up 40-horsepower Volkswagen engine and parts sourced from wherever the company could find them, this being post-war Europe.

A Zurich, Switzerland, distributor ordered five of the cars, which were hand-built at the company’s headquarters in Gmund, Austria.

One month after the first car left the factory, a 356 won its first race.

The model went into regular production in 1950, and in 1954, a speedster version was introduced.

The 10 000th 356 rolled off the assembly line in 1956, followed in later years by the 356B.

Creating the icon:

Birth of the 911

Unlike many other car companies, the Porsche crew plodded forward with little drama, even after Ferdinand Porsche passed away in 1951 at age 76.

They found their flagship in 1963: the 911. It had a two-litre six-cylinder engine that put out 130hp, far more than its predecessor.

Targa, semi-automatic, high-performance, and entry-level versions followed within the decade.

To the nines

In 1965, Porsche ended 356 production, but its engine lived on in the new entry-level 912. This in turn was replaced in 1970 by the mid-engined 914, and in 1976, the front-engined 924 with its Audi power-plant replaced the 914.

The all-new 928 debuted in 1978 with a 240-hp V8. The 944, which went on sale in 1982, was based on the 924, but the new model had a Porsche-built four-cylinder engine.

The supercar 959 debuted at the 1985 Frankfurt Auto Show, and in 1987, the 250 000th 911 rolls off the line. It’s enough to make a person wish for cars with names rather than project numbers.

Back to basics

The early 1990s were almost as bad for sports car manufacturers as the gas crisis of the 1970s, and Porsche was in danger of being taken over by a larger company.

Dr Wendelin Wiedekin, the former head of production, stepped in as CEO and refocused development on the can’t-miss 911.

The mid-engined Boxster was concept introduced not long after, and the front-engined models were discontinued.

As a tribute to its new stability, the one millionth Porsche was built in July of 1996.

In late 2008, the company made its next corporate move by buying a controlling one-third of Volkswagen’s shares.