Ferdinand Porsche was born on September 3, 1875. Always interested in thingsmechanical, at the age of 15 he equipped his family’s home with electricity, designing andbuilding the generator and even the light bulb. The name Porsche first appeared on a carin 1900, the Lohner-Porsche, a battery-powered car that was first shown at the ParisExhibition.
In 1906 Porsche was hired by the Daimler Motor Co. as Technical Director,and eventually becoming the Chief Engineer. One of his Mercedes designs created forDaimler-Benz won the 1924 Targa Florio, and he built on this success to create theMercedes-Benz S series of the late 1920s, cars which have been referred to as “streetPorsche proposed a mass-produced Mercedes-Benz for the ordinary driver but was turneddown by his employer, so he left the Daimler-Benz organization and started up on hisown. The Volkswagen plan dates from this time, along with three aerodynamic versionsbuilt for racing.
During World War II Porsche found himself working for hitler andbuilding projects such as producing farm tractors. Hitler got porsche to build him theKubelwagen, the Schwimwagen, and even a car that used wood as fuel to opperate in thewar. But in 1946, when Porsche’s son Ferry and daughter Louise Plech joined the firm,they returned to the goal of sports car design. The Porsche Type 356 went into productionPorsche died in 1951, having seen the Porsche name on a sports car.Bibliography:
