subject: Milestones in Porsche History, Volume 1 [print this page] Milestones in Porsche History, Volume 1 Milestones in Porsche History, Volume 1
Starting from the seeds that sprouted the company and continuing up to the most current news on the happenings in Stuttgart, Milestones in Porsche History will cover the history of the company's road cars and race cars in vehement detail.
Ferdinand Porsche's life before his automotive exploits has often been chronicled (besides, it is boring anyway), so we are going to skip over that. Keeping that in mind, we will be starting with Ferdinand's first major engineering project. The Lohner-Porsche was an engineering masterpiece at the time that seated 4. In 1898, when Porsche was 23 years of age, the car was first developed as an internal combustion battery electric hybrid. Later, in 1901, Porsche worked on a system that involved four electric motors with one located at each wheel. As a driver, Mr. Porsche won the 1901 Exelburg Rally, piloted his cars to several world speed records, and served as Archduke Ferdinand's personal Chauffer during World War I.
In 1906, Ferdinand was hired as the chief designer for Austro-Daimler. In 1916 he was promoted to Managing Director in charge of the brand. The same year, he also received an honorary doctorate degree from the Vienna University of Technology. He later earned another degree from the school, as well as the honorary title of Professor.
In April of 1931, Ferdinand founded his engineering consulting firm with monetary assistance from friends and family. The companies first design was commissioned by Wanderer, and was very successful for the firm.
Three things transpired that led most directly to Porsche's success. The first was the joining of 4 slowly failing German automotive giants Horst, Wanderer, DKW, and Audi to form the Auto Union. The second was Chancellor Hitler's proclamation at the 1933 Berlin Motor Show, of a greater German auto industry presence. And the third was war machine contracts during the Second World War With the forming of Auto Union, Porsche had a great amount of engineering exercises at an arm's reach. From the smallest of parts to full cars, Porsche and his engineering firm worked hand in hand with several German automakers.
At the auto show in Berlin, 1933, German Chancellor Hitler announced a two pronged plan that Germany should be number one in automobile racing, and that every individual in the country should own either a car or a tractor. This benefited Porsche most, because, Porsche developed the Auto Union Type C racing car, The KdF-Wagen (later known as the Volkswagen) as a peoples car, and the "Volks-Tractor" a Porsche tractor for the masses of Germany.
With the onset of World War II, Porsche won government contracts for the design and production of the German army's tanks. Porsche worked as part of a development group for the design of a new Panzer tank, and his own designs known as the Tiger and the Elephant. Due to this combination of things happening all at once, Porsche grew very quickly to accommodate all of the demands. As this is just the beginning, and much has happened since to form Porsche into the company that we know today, there will of course, be more to come.
Starting from the seeds that sprouted the company and continuing up to the most current news on the happenings in Stuttgart, Milestones in Porsche History will cover the history of the company's road cars and race cars in vehement detail.
Ferdinand Porsche's life before his automotive exploits has often been chronicled (besides, it is boring anyway), so we are going to skip over that. Keeping that in mind, we will be starting with Ferdinand's first major engineering project. The Lohner-Porsche was an engineering masterpiece at the time that seated 4. In 1898, when Porsche was 23 years of age, the car was first developed as an internal combustion battery electric hybrid. Later, in 1901, Porsche worked on a system that involved four electric motors with one located at each wheel. As a driver, Mr. Porsche won the 1901 Exelburg Rally, piloted his cars to several world speed records, and served as Archduke Ferdinand's personal Chauffer during World War I.
In 1906, Ferdinand was hired as the chief designer for Austro-Daimler. In 1916 he was promoted to Managing Director in charge of the brand. The same year, he also received an honorary doctorate degree from the Vienna University of Technology. He later earned another degree from the school, as well as the honorary title of Professor.
In April of 1931, Ferdinand founded his engineering consulting firm with monetary assistance from friends and family. The companies first design was commissioned by Wanderer, and was very successful for the firm.
Three things transpired that led most directly to Porsche's success. The first was the joining of 4 slowly failing German automotive giants Horst, Wanderer, DKW, and Audi to form the Auto Union. The second was Chancellor Hitler's proclamation at the 1933 Berlin Motor Show, of a greater German auto industry presence. And the third was war machine contracts during the Second World War With the forming of Auto Union, Porsche had a great amount of engineering exercises at an arm's reach. From the smallest of parts to full cars, Porsche and his engineering firm worked hand in hand with several German automakers.
At the auto show in Berlin, 1933, German Chancellor Hitler announced a two pronged plan that Germany should be number one in automobile racing, and that every individual in the country should own either a car or a tractor. This benefited Porsche most, because, Porsche developed the Auto Union Type C racing car, The KdF-Wagen (later known as the Volkswagen) as a peoples car, and the "Volks-Tractor" a Porsche tractor for the masses of Germany.
With the onset of World War II, Porsche won government contracts for the design and production of the German army's tanks. Porsche worked as part of a development group for the design of a new Panzer tank, and his own designs known as the Tiger and the Elephant. Due to this combination of things happening all at once, Porsche grew very quickly to accommodate all of the demands. As this is just the beginning, and much has happened since to form Porsche into the company that we know today, there will of course, be more to come.
