Porsche History

The Father: Dr. Ferdinand 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.

The Son: Ferry Porsche

It seems appropriate that Ferry 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 Ferry worked on while his father spent 20 months in a prison in Dijon, France, as a war criminal. Ferry 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.