Porsche AG was founded by Ferdinand Porsche in 1931 and was commissioned to design and built the first “people’s car”, the Volkswagen Beetle, which later became the longest-running production vehicle ever. Ferdinand Porsche was the brains behind the successful design of the Beetle. There were 21.5 million VW Beetles produced with the last one rolling off the production line in June 2003, which was 65 years after the first one was built.
The Birth of the first Porsche Car
In 1939, Ferdinand Porsche decided to build his own cars and the Type 64 was born. It was a prototype of what the Porsche vehicles would look like and it used spare parts from the VW Beetle. Porsche intended to use the Type 64 for racing but the race it was set to participate in got cancelled. War soon broke out all over Europe and only 3 Type 64s were ever made.
After World War II, Ferdinand Porsche was imprisoned for war crimes but was never brought to court. While he was incarcerated, his son, Ferdinand Anton Ernst “Ferry” Porsche, decided to build cars since he found it difficult to buy one that he actually liked. The elder Porsche approved of the designs upon his release from prison and production started.
The first ever production car from Porsche was named the Porsche 356.
The 356 shared some of its design aspects with the VW Beetle. The 356 had an air-cooled, rear-mounted 1.1 liters flat four engine. The engine produced 40bhp and 52 lb-ft of torque. The 356 had a four-speed manual transmission and rear wheel drive. It also had a monocoque body.
Some parts like the engine case and suspension were similar to the VW Beetle and were even sourced from Volkswagen. The first vehicles had aluminum bodies but were later replaced by steel to save on production costs.
The Reutter company was contracted to build the body for the 356 until Porsche acquired the company. Reutter also provided seats for the 356 and it retained that part of the business and renamed itself Recaro. Recaro still provides seats for Porsche to this day and is known as the premiere brand for racing seats.
The Porsche 356 Success due to Design
The design of the Porsche 356 and its performance had made it a very successful car. The 356 came in hard top and open top configurations. As the production of the car continued, the design and engineering were updated and it shared little with the VW Beetle in terms of parts by the end of the production run. The 356 was also successful on the track and was loved by racing enthusiasts.
With the innovations founded on the 356 design, the Porsche company went on to produce the Porsche 911 platform in 1963. The 911 featured the revolutionary flat six boxer engine that is still prominent in today’s Porsche cars. With the 911, the company cemented its name in the automotive world. In 2013, the 911 celebrated its 50th year of production. A true testament to the longevity of the design excellence of Porsche.
Porsche was ultimately acquired by the Volkswagen group in 2012. With the acquisition, it was a homecoming for the namesake that designed the original VW. Porsche now joins the VW stable along with other well-known brands such as Bugatti, Audi, and Bentley. The original Porsche 356 is still popular with collectors and is highly priced at auctions. Car No. 1 of the Porsche 356 is displayed at the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart, Germany.
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