Enzo Ferrari

Enzo Ferrari was born in Modena Italy on February 18 1898. He came from a well to do family that owned a metal foundry making railroad parts, they were the first in his town to own a car.
When WWI came Enzo's father and brother (Dino) were drafted into the Italian army, whom both died from influenza in 1916. Enzo was forced to leave school to run the foundry, when the business collapsed he started work as a metalworker at the Modena Fire Brigade workshop as a turning instructor in order to support his widowed mother.

Enzo Ferrari 1919

Enzo himself was later drafted into the Italian army where he worked shoeing mules for the mountain artillery, after a few months he becomming seriously ill and was released from the military. Not interested in going back to shcool and against his mothers will, he found work as a test driver in Turin in late 1918. Enzo then moved to Milan to work at CMN (Costruzioni Maccaniche Nazionali) as a racing car driver. His first real race came in the 1919, the Parma-Berceto, he then entered the Targa Florio that same year. Enzo then founded Scuderia Ferrari, (literally means Ferrari Stable) who were mainly sponsors and trainers for Alfa Romeo.

THE PRANCING HORSE EMBLEM

The famous symbol of Ferrari is a black prancing horse on yellow background, usually with the letters S F for Scuderia Ferrari.
The horse was originally the symbol of Count Francesco Baracca, a legendary "asso" (ace) of the Italian air force during World War I, who painted it on the fuselage of his planes. Baracca died very young on June 19, 1918, shot down on Mount Montello after 34 victorious duels and many team victories. He was the Italian ace of aces and he soon became a national hero.
Baracca had wanted the prancing horse on his planes because his squad, the "Battaglione Aviatori", was enrolled in a Cavalry regiment (air forces were at their first years of life and had no separate administration), and also because he himself was reputed to be the best cavaliere of his team. The Scuderia Ferrari logo Coat of Arms of the City of StuttgartIt has been supposed that the choice of a horse was perhaps partly due to the fact that his noble family was known for having plenty of horses in their estates at Lugo di Romagna. Another theory suggests Baracca copied the rampant horse design from a shot down German pilot having the emblem of the city of Stuttgart on his plane. Interestingly, German sports car manufacturer Porsche, from Stuttgart, borrowed its prancing horse logo from the city's emblem. Furthermore astonishing: Stuttgart is an over the centuries modified version of Stutengarten (an ancient german word for "Gestüt", translated into english as mare garden or stud farm, into italian as "scuderia").

Enzo and Dino Ferrari

On June 17, 1923, Enzo Ferrari won a race at the Savio track in Ravenna, and there he met the Countess Paolina, mother of Baracca. The Countess suggested that he might use the horse on his cars, suggesting that it would grant him good luck, but it the first race at which Alfa would let him use the horse on Scuderia cars was eleven years later, at SPA 24 Hours in 1932. Ferrari won.
Ferrari left the horse black as it had been on Baracca's plane; however, he added the canary yellow background because it was the symbolic color of his birthplace, Modena. The prancing horse has not always identified the Ferrari brand only: Fabio Taglioni used it on his Ducati motorbikes. Taglioni's father was in fact a companion of Baracca's and fought with him in the 91st Air Squad, but as Ferrari's fame grew, Ducati abandoned the horse; this may have been the result of a private agreement between the two brands. The prancing horse is now a trademark of Ferrari.

ALFA ROMEO

Ferrari was officially hired by Alfa Romeo as head of their racing department in 1938, then in 1940, upon learning of the company's plan to take control of his beloved Scuderia, he quit Alfa. Since he was prohibited by contract from racing for several years, the Scuderia briefly became Auto Avio Costruzioni Ferrari, which ostensibly produced machine tools and aircraft accessories for Piaggio and RIV as Italy was gearing up for WWII. Ferrari did in fact produce one race car, the Tipo 815, in the non-competition period; it was thus the first actual Ferrari car, but due to the war it saw little competition.
Ferrari experienced an emotional breakdown in the late twenties and stopped racing for a short time, but in 1927, he returned. He continued to race for Alfa Romeo until his son was born, in 1932. Although Ferrari was a good racer, his talent was in the direction of organization and handling of small details. He worked for Alfa Romeo for nine years, but Ferrari wanted to design his own cars. After being released from his severance agreement with Alfa Romeo, Ferrari started his own car business. However, a stipulation of his release was that he could not race or design anything under his name for four years.
In 1943 the Ferrari factory moved to Maranello, where it has remained ever since. The factory was bombed in 1944 due to making machines for ball bearing production, it was rebuilt in 1946 to include a works for road car production. The first Ferrari road car was the 1947 125 S, powered by a 1.5-litre V12 engine; Enzo reluctantly built and sold his automobiles to fund the Scuderia. While his beautiful and blazingly fast cars quickly gained a reputation for excellence, Enzo maintained a famous distaste for his customers, most of whom he felt were buying his cars for the prestige and not for racing. Ferrari has long been one of the ultimate toys for the rich and young (or young-at-heart).

Ferrari Berlinette 375

Ferrari cars feature highly-tuned small V8 and V12 engines, often in a mid-engined configuration. But until the introduction of fuel injection in the 1980s, they were quite temperamental and were dificult to maintain. Before the mid 1980s they carried a reputation for unreliability and bad engineering, though these were written off by enthusiasts as "character." Ferrari owners have famously and religiously defended the merits of their cars while virulently criticizing other brands.
The fifties were a time of economic boom, mostly for the north. Italy was becoming a world economic power, and was experiencing rapid expansions in the industrial labor forces. With the boom came low inflation, low unemployment, and higher consumer spending. This was considered an economic miracle, there was a great demand for Italian goods (Galt Lecture, 1997). The north offered the jobs which caused massive migration from the south. With the southern workers mostly being uneducated and having no representation in the work force, they were candidates for exploitation.
As with any economic boom, there are also hardships. For Ferrari, the end of the boom came when his son, Dino, died of muscular dystrophy in 1956. This also led to the end of his marriage to Laura, who never got over the death of her only son. After he and his wife separated, he moved into an apartment at the factory. He started to work seven days a week and throw himself into the business. Following the death of his wife, he publicly announced that the son of his mistress was his new heir.
The Scuderia joined the Formula One World Championship in the first year of its existence, 1950. Jose-Froilan Gonzalez gave the team its first victory at the 1951 British Grand Prix. Alberto Ascari gave Ferrari its first World Championship a year later. Ferrari is the oldest team left in the championship, not to mention the most successful: the team holds nearly every Formula One record.

Ferrari Berlinetta 375

In the fifties the Ferrari racing company experienced numerous accidents, one of which led to Ferrari's indictment for manslaughter. One of his drivers lost control of his car and was killed along with spectators in the stands. Ferrari was acquitted of the charges, and he "urged strict new safety regulations to protect both drivers and the public".



In the years that followed Italy went through another crisis. In the sixties, the economy declined. An increase in inflation eroded wages. The late sixties were composed of student movements which included students helping the working class by fighting for and winning higher wages. During this time Ferrari was also experiencing economic troubles. He sold part of his company to Fiat in 1965, which kept it going for a few more years. In 1969, Fiat assisted him again and bought the up a total of 90% of the company, with the stipulation that he would control until his death.



The now classic Berlinettas battled the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The works engines produced 384 bhp at 7500 rpm. Customer 375mm Berlinettas and Spyders utilized a new short stroke engine of 84mm x 68 mm for a total displacement of 4523cc. This engine produced 340 bhp at a lower 7000 rpm.



Ferrari stepped down as president of the company in 1971. However, he continued to run many aspects of it, including control of his stock interest, until his death in 1988.

Enzo Ferrari was given the Italian award of Cavaliere for sporting mertit in 1924 and went on to receive further honours from the nation: Commendatore in 1927, Cavaliere del Lavoro in 1952. In 1960 he received an honorary degree in mechanical engineering from Bologna University. In 1988 Modena University gave him in Physics. He was awared the Hammerskjold Prize by the UN in 1962, the Columbus Prize in 1965, the Gold Medal from the Italian school of Art and Culture in 1970, the De Gasperi Award in 1987.

Under his leadership (1947-88) Ferrari won over 5000 races all over the world and earned 25 world titles. The most important achievements have been 9 Formula 1 Drivers' World titles, 8 Formula 1 Constructors' World Championships, 14 Manufactures' World titles, 9 wins at Le Mans 24 Hours race, 8 at the Mille Miglia, 7 at the Targa Florio.

Enzo Ferrari 1919

Enzo Ferrari died in Modena on August 14 1988. After the death of Enzo Ferrari, Scuderia Ferrari struggled to come to terms with the loss of its founder. The team was dragged down with internal politics marring the performances on the track. Despite a good run with Mansell and Prost the team soon became un-competitive. The turning point for Ferrari was the signing of the current world champion Michael Schumacher and Ross Brawn in 1996, since then the team has re-found it's racing history and are now back at the front of the grid.

FERRARI 250 GT

Introduced in the fall of 1962, the 250 GT Berlinetta Lusso was Ferrari’s latest intermediate model, a vehicle to bridge the gap between competition racers and luxuriously appointed 2+2 Coupe’s. In the past, models like the 250 GT Pinin Farina ‘Notchback’ and SWB Lusso had occupied this middle ground, however, Ferrari's new model struck a perfect balance between what were two very different automobiles. It combined exceptional performance and sultry looks and today the GTL is widely regarded as one of Pininfarina's greatest ever designs - no small complement considering some of their exquisite bodywork from the last 60 years.
The Lusso's tubular steel Tipo 539 chassis was eminently comparable to the frame seen on Ferrari's awesome 250 GTO. Sharing an identical wheelbase of 2400mm, primary points of difference were smaller diameter steel tubing and the Lusso's forward mounted engine to increase cabin space. Otherwise, the independent front suspension and live rear axle set up, with hydraulic discs all-round and Borrani wire wheels, was very much the same. Once again, the single overhead camshaft, 60° V12 used in these GTL's was another descendent of Colombo's original unit, Lusso's representing the pinnacle of development for the legendary 250 unit. Designated Tipo 168, the engine was little more than a mildly de-tuned version of Ferrari's racing spec units used in the aforementioned GTO. Displacement remained at the by now familiar 2953cc thanks to a bore and stroke of 73mm x 58.8mm respectively. Output was 250bhp at 7500rpm with a compression of 9.2:1 and three twin choke Weber 36 DCS downdraught carburettors. However, by special request, both these could be altered according to the desires of any particular client. For example, some Lusso's received high compression units whilst hot 36 DCZ or even 40 DCL and DCZ carburettors were fitted to some motors. Indeed, it's believed that one or two GTL's left Maranello producing a GTO-rivalling 290bhp!

Ferrari 250 GTO 1962

The Ferrari 250 GTO was made from 1962 to 1964. There were 39 produced and they were only available as coupes (hardtops). Today's going rate for a good 250 GTO is in the $10,000,000 range! Obviously this is the way beyond the budgets of most mortals.
The design of the GTO was instantly and universally admired. Its appeal has withstood the test of time, and it is considered to be one of the best looking sports cars of all time.
"GTO" stood for Grand Turismo Omologato, or Grand Touring Homologated. This naming is widely considered to be a very effective ruse, by which Ferrari convinced the FAI (international sanctioning body for racing) that this car was a version of Ferrari's mass produced 250 GT.
1996 was a year for building for the future and in 1997 and 1998 Ferrari lost out on the title's only in the final race of the season. 97 will be remembered from the Jerez incident in which Michael Schumacher tangled with title rival Jacques Villeneuve handing the Williams driver the title. In 1998 it was Mika Hakkinen in the McLaren who took the title on the final day of the season after Schumacher's Ferrari stalled on the grid at Suzuka.
In 1999 a Schumacher driver's title looked on the cards until a leg breaking accident at Silverstone ruled him out of the title battle, it was left to Eddie Irvine to take the fight to Hakkinen and fight he did, the title again went to the final race of the season but not even the return of Michael Schumacher could prevent Hakkinen taking the crown once again, Ferrari however took victory in the constructor's championship.
2000 was a turning point for Ferrari's fortunes, another tough battle with McLaren was won in style with a fine end of season comeback which saw Michael Schumacher win the final four races of the season to secure both titles for Ferrari. And in 2001 the success would be repeated, this time Ferrari had less of a challenge and Schumacher had wrapped up another title long before the season was over.

In 2002 Ferrari launch the F2002 and it will be a car that is long remembered in the history of the Scuderia. The F2002 simply dominated the season after making a delayed debut in Brazil. Schumacher won the driver's title quicker than any other driver before and Ferrari won by a record margin of points. However this success caused the FIA to worry about the sport becoming boring and in 2003 they were to introduce a raft of changes to try and slow down Ferrari and keep the title's competitive.
The changes to F1 in 2003 did at least stop Ferrari running away with the title's once again, but they did not stop the winning streak from continuing. Schumacher once again took the driver's title this time fighting off a double challenge from Montoya and Raikkonen. Ferrari took their 5th straight victory in the constructor's title and put another notch on their domination of the sport in this period of time.
2004 would see Ferrari continue to dominate F1, after the tough battle in 2003 many expected Ferrari's winning run to come to an end at the hands of their Michelin shod rivals, but the F2004 was simply the class of the field as Ferrari went on the rampage once again similar to 2002 where nobody had an answer to their pace. Ferrari were so far ahead of the rest they stopped developing the chassis in the summer to work on the 2005 car, thus allowing their rivals some hope as they caught up with the champions towards the end of the season, but by then it was all done and dusted and the team sealed yet another double championship win, with 15 wins from 18 races.
As of 2004, the team's records include fourteen World Drivers Championship titles (1952, 1953, 1956, 1958, 1961, 1964, 1975, 1977, 1979, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004), fourteen World Constructors Championship titles (1961, 1964, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1982, 1983, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004), 179 grand prix victories, 3445 and a half points, 544 podium finishes, 174 pole positions, 11,182 laps led, and 180 fastest laps in 1622 grands prix contested. Famous drivers include Tazio Nuvolari, Juan Manuel Fangio, Alberto Ascari, Phil Hill, Mike Hawthorn, John Surtees, Niki Lauda, Jody Scheckter, Gilles Villeneuve, Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost and Michael Schumacher.

FIAT and FERRARI

As of 2004, FIAT owns 56% of Ferrari, Mediobanca owns 15%, Commerzbank AG owns 10%, Lehman Brothers owns 7%, and Enzo's son Piero Ferrari owns 10%.
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Ferdinand Anton Ernst Porsche

Ferdinand Porsche, was born in 1875 in Mattersdorf, a village close to Reichenberg, in what was then North Bohemia, later Czechoslovakia. The young Porsche demonstrated excellent mechanical aptitude and, at age 18, was recommended for a job in Vienna with Bela Egger (later Brown Boveri). In Vienna, he sneaked into night classes at the Technical University, the only "formal" engineering education he ever obtained.

After five years in Vienna, he landed his first job in the automotive field with Jacob Lohner. In 1900, the 'System Lohner-Porsche' electric carriage made its debut at the World's Fair in Paris. This automobile set several Austrian land speed records. It did over 35 mph. Porsche then harnessed Daimler's and Panhard's internal combustion engines to power wheel-mounted electric motors in the new "System Mixt." More speed records were won, acclaim followed, and in 1905 Porsche won the Poetting Prize as Austria's outstanding automotive designer. He was now a famous automotive engineer in Europe.

Austro-Daimler (a licensee of the Stuttgart-based Daimler firm) recruited Porsche in 1906 to be its chief designer. One of his most famous A-D's appeared in 1910. Porsche designed an 85-horsepower, streamlined car for the Prince Henry Trial. Examples won the top three places in the 1910 trial, and Model 27/80 has ever since been known as the "Prince Henry."

For most of the next decade, Austro-Daimler concentrated on war materiel including aircraft engines, huge trucks, and motorized cannons. In 1916, Porsche became the firm's managing director. The next year, Porsche received what became his most cherished honor, an honorary doctorate from Vienna Technical University, the same institution where 24 years earlier he had sneaked into night classes. This degree was designated by the now-famous "Dr. Ing. h.c." which was forever to be part of the professor's persona and eventually part of his firm's name.

While Austro-Daimler principally pursued large luxury sedans in the '20s, Dr. Porsche moved toward light cars and racing. Porsche had competed in hillclimbs, speed trials and rallies since his first days in the industry. By 1922, Dr. Porsche had embraced racing as a way to improve his cars and the resultant Sascha won races throughout Europe with 43 wins in 51 starts. Eventually, Porsche and Austro-Daimler's board differed on the future direction of its cars and Dr. Porsche triggered his formidable temper and left Austro-Daimler in 1923.

Ferdinand Porsche in 1923. Within several months, he was in Stuttgart as Daimler's Technical Director. His early work at Daimler earned him a second honorary degree, this time from the Stuttgart Technical University. A series of intimidating racing cars followed: the two-liter, eight-cylinder cars for 1925-27 in which Rudolf Caracciola won 21 races in 27 starts. After the 1926 merger of Daimler and Benz, the big 6.2-liter K, 6.8-liter S, and then the 7.0-liter SS, SSK, and SSKL models followed, dominating racing in 1928-1930. While Porsche's racing activities were successful, his push for small, light Daimler-Benz cars was not. The board objected. In 1929, Porsche left for a brief stay at Steyr, but the Great Depression was on and car manufacturing was not the place to be. Steyr collapsed. At age 55, Porsche had no job. Despite his broadly-acknowledged brilliance, his well-earned reputation for stubbornness was not going to help him find a good job in those hard times.

He returned to Stuttgart, an automotive center with firms such as Hirth, Mahle, and Bosch in addition to Daimler-Benz. In January 1931, he launched his consulting firm, 'Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche GmbH Konstructionsburo Fur Motern, Fahrzeug, Luftfahrzeug, and Wasserfahrzeugbau' ('Motors, Vehicles, Airplanes, and Boats...'). The staff was composed of men with whom the Professor had previously worked: Karl Rabe, chief engineer, was joined by Erwin Komenda (body design), Karl Frolich (transmissions), Josef Kales (motors), Josef Zahradnik (steering and suspensions), Francis Reimspiess, Han Mickl (aerodynamics), Adolf Rosenberger (business manager), and two relatives, Anton Piech (a lawyer, Ferdinand Porsche's son-in-law and later father of Ferdinand Piech, now chairman of Volkswagen), and Porsche's own son, Ferry.

Ferdinand Anton Ernst Porsche had been born in 1909 in Weiner Neustadt, Austria, the second child in the family behind a five-year older sister, Louisa. His first nickname was 'Ferdy' but (as he recounted 50 years later) his governess did not like the sound of the name and changed it to 'Ferry', actually a nickname for Franz.

Growing up, young Porsche was allowed to play in the Austro-Daimler factory. He was interested in matters automotive and paid attention to what he saw and heard in the factory. At an early age he accompanied his father to races for both Austro-Daimler and Daimler-Benz (including Indianapolis in 1923), and he had a half-sized two-cylinder car. Educated in Wiener Neustadt and then Stuttgart, Ferry was an excellent math student. In 1928, not yet 19 years old, he began an apprenticeship at Bosch. In 1930, he was tutored daily in physics and engineering in preparation for working in the new Porsche consulting firm.

The '30s were alternatively exhilarating and depressing for the Porsche family: times of impending financial disaster mixed with huge engineering successes, followed by the War, and the destruction of the European economy.

The new Porsche design firm had projects soon after opening, such was Professor Porsche's reputation. First was a new medium-priced car for Wanderer. Later, Porsche decided to undertake a new small car; one designed to be small from inception and not a scaled-down bigger car. Professor Porsche funded the project with a loan on his life insurance. It was an important design, being the direct antecedent of the Volkswagen. Later Zundapp was recruited to sponsor the project and three prototypes were built.

The VW 30 (left) and the VW 3 (right). Zundapp lost interest when its motorcycle business boomed; then NSU took on the project. After NSU bowed out in the face of huge tooling costs, the small car project lay fallow until Germany's newly elected chancellor, Adolf Hitler, decided every German family needed a radio (to be able to listen to his dogma) and either a small car or a durable tractor. In June of 1934, the Third Reich signed a contract to build prototype Volkswagens. By the winter of 1936, three prototypes, the VW3, had been built in the garages of Professor Porsche's home. In early 1937, the Nazi 'oversight' organization, the RDA (Reichverband der Deutschen Automobilindustrie) recommended further development and that 30 additional prototypes be built by Daimler-Benz. During the testing of the VW3O, the Reich selected an estate northeast of Hanover to become the site of the Volkswagen factory. "Die Autostadt" was born; today it is Wolfsburg, still the worldwide headquarters of Volkswagen.

While the Professor undertook co-general management (with a Nazi administrator) of the new plant, his son stayed in Stuttgart and ran the design business. The government gave the car a propaganda-oriented name, the "KdF" - short for Kraft durch Freude ("strength through joy"), the recreation arm of the workers' Labor Front. Refinements to the car were undertaken. Production started but was quickly switched over to the Kubelwagen and Schwimmwagen (a "jeep" and its amphibious counterpart) for the suddenly escalating World War II. In 1944, allied bombing destroyed over half of the plant. Only because two huge electricity-producing turbines were unscathed did the British rebuild the plant and restart production of the Volkswagen after the War.

Back in the early '30s the Porsche firm launched a second internal project to design a car to meet a new Grand Prix formula. Hitler had announced a 500,000 RM ($250,000) subsidy for a German firm that would build and campaign cars in the new formula. Daimler-Benz applied and won; Auto Union applied and lost. Auto Union reapplied and took Professor Porsche and his designs to meet with Hitler and his staff. In the now-famous meeting, Porsche convinced Hitler of the merits of the Porsche design. Soon the Grand Prix wars of the Silver Arrows were on, and Mercedes and Auto Union took turns at ascendancy.

The car Porsche designed was very innovative: a V-16 4.5-liter engine placed ahead of the rear transaxle, tube frame, aluminum skin weighing 99 pounds, gas tank between the cockpit and the engine (in the center of the car so that weight gain or loss with gas load did not unduly impact handling), a front suspension of torsion bars and trailing arms, and a rear suspension of swing axles, semi-elliptical springs, and tube-type shocks.

The 750-kilo formula Auto Union P-wagens were fearsome race cars. With fewer than three pounds per horsepower and ultimately 650 horse-power from six liters, the cars could lay rubber accelerating from 100 mph. In various iterations, they were hillclimb champions, won Grand Prix races, and set land speed records.

Professor Porsche was heavily involved with designing the P-wagens. Then as his involvement shifted more to building the plant for the KdF/Volkswagen, his son took over development projects at the Stuttgart design firm. After the formula change in 1938 (3-liter supercharged or 4.5-liter normally aspirated engines), Auto Union took full control of the team under Eberan von Eberhorst, who continued to work with the Porsche firm.

Toward the end of the War; Porsche people were working in Stuttgart, Wolfsburg, the family farm in Zell am See (Austria), and in Gmund (Austria) where the Third Reich sent the firm to avoid the Allied bombing of Stuttgart. The younger Porsche had long foreseen the outcome of the War. He had grown up anti-military and stayed apolitical through the Nazi years. The old Professor was simply politically naive; he was consumed with engineering, and it's obvious that he did not mix engineering with morality. If there was a sponsor for an engineering project, be it a race car or a tank, he wanted to design and build the best there ever was.

When the Allies arrived in mid-1945, it was no surprise. That November; the French invited Professor Porsche to visit them at their occupation headquarters in Baden-Baden. There he was offered the opportunity to redesign the Volkswagen to be "more French" and to move equipment (which the French would claim as war reparations) from Wolfsburg to build cars in France. The offer was probably a sincere one; the French had already nationalized Renault, and had arrested Louis Renault as a Nazi collaborator.

Disagreement within the government ensued. French automakers, led by Jean Pierre Peugeot, wanted no part of a French Volkswagen. On December 15, 1945, while the invited guests of the French in Baden-Baden, Professor Porsche, Ferry Porsche and Anton Piech were arrested as war criminals. Ferry was soon released, but the Professor and Piech went to prison in Dijon. No charges were brought and no trial was scheduled, but "bail" was set at 500,000 francs each.

After his release, the younger Porsche went to work to secure a commission for the family firm, still in Gmund. With help from Carlo Abarth, Porsche secured a contract with Piero Dusio, a wealthy Italian industrialist, for a new Grand Prix race car. The Type 360 Cisitalia, a 1.5-liter supercharged car smaller than, but reminiscent of, the Auto Unions was the result. The fees Porsche earned for its design bought the release of Professor Porsche and Piech. They were freed August 1,1947 after almost 20 months in captivity, mostly in terrible conditions in the medieval Dijon prison. The Professor's health was poor.

While the Professor was in prison, the little Porsche firm did whatever it could to stay in business. Aside from the Cisitalia project, it repaired cars, built and sold water pumps and winches, and designed its own sports car, the first car to carry the name Porsche. Type 356 was the project number. The prototype followed the tradition of the Auto Union and Cisitalia Grand Prix cars with mid-chassis engine placed ahead of the transaxle, in this case using modified Volkswagen drive train components. Upon his return to the company from prison, Professor Porsche reviewed the designs his son and his team had produced. He approved of them, commenting frequently to the workers that he would have designed both the Cisitalia Grand Prix car and the Porsche prototype the same way Ferry did.

During the winter of 1947-48, a Zurich car distributor ordered five Porsches and the Type 356 was put into production in the old saw mill in Gmund. Built entirely by hand, these cars adopted a more Volkswagen-like layout in order to have vestigial back seats: the engine was moved behind the transaxle. While in Gmund the little firm ultimately built and delivered 49 of the aluminum skinned 356s plus five additional chassis which were delivered to the Beutler firm in Thun, Switzerland, for fitting with their cabriolet bodies. In the Spring of 1949, Heinz Nordhoff hired the Porsche firm as consultants for further development of the VW, and contracted to pay Porsche a royalty on every car built. Porsche also became the Austrian distributor for VW. With finances now more secure, Porsche made plans to return to Stuttgart and in September 1949, reopened offices in space rented from the Reutter body works. Steel-bodied 356's went into production there soon after. Initial plans were to build up to 500 cars a year Eventually more than 78,000 356s would be built in 17 years.

In September of 1950, Professor Porsche celebrated his 75th birthday. A huge party was staged, and the courtyard of the family villa was filled with friends and associates from years past...and with Porsches and VWs. In November, Ferry took his father for one last look at the Wolfsburg Volkswagenwerk, now literally humming full speed with production of the popular VW Beetle. It was the first time the Professor had seen the plant since the end of the War.

Later in November, Professor Porsche had a stroke. He never recovered, and he succumbed January 30, 1952. His legacy, that of an untrained and largely uneducated young man who became one of the greatest automobile engineers of all time, lay in countless design innovations, many of them now distilled down to one car which his son had designed, the Porsche sportscar. It is fitting that a designer as fiercely independent as Ferdinand Porsche should father the last remaining independent sportscar manufacturer. more...

The Very First Porsche, a Hand-Built Aluminum Prototype

The very first Porsche, a hand-built aluminum prototype, was completed on June 8, 1948. The history of Porsche automobiles goes back much farther, however, all the way back to 1900 when Dr. Ferdinand Porsche introduced his first design, a Lohner-Porsche. more...