In 1931, Ferdinand Porsche founded the Porsche car company. From a young age itself, the automotive engineer had a knack for technology and was especially intrigued by electricity. Porsche worked as a successful vehicle engineer from late 1800s to 1931, when he founded his own firm. In 1934, Porsche and his son, Ferry Porsche collaborated to develop the first designs of the Volkswagen Beetle.
Born on September 3, 1875, in Maffersdorf, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary (now in the Czech Republic) was fascinated by electricity since a young age. At the age of 18, in 1893, Porsche landed a job at Bela Egger & Co., an electrical company in Vienna that was later renamed Brown Boveri. Around the same time, he joined as a part-time student at the Imperial Technical University in Reichenberg (now called the Vienna University of Technology).
Ater only a few years at Bella Egger & Co., Porsche was promoted from an employee to a management position. The year 1897 proved to be full of milestones for Porsche. That year, he built an electric wheel-hub motor, the concept for the same was developed more than a decade earlier by an American inventor Wellington Adams. After racing his wheel-hub motor in Vienna, Porsche began working in the new Electric car department at Hofwagenfabrik Jacob Lohner & Co., a Vienna based company belonging to Austro-Hungarian Army’s joint imperial and Royal Army. Porsche developed the Egger-Lohner electric vehicle, the C.2 Phaeton in 1898. This was the first ever electric car the world had seen.
In 1900, Porsche’s engineering abilities gained spotlight internationally in Paris at the 1900 World Fair – Porsche's wheel-hub engine received wide acclaim. Later in 1990, Porsche tested his engine in a race at the Semmering circuit near Vienna and won. In1902, he drove one of his own designs while serving as a reserve foot soldier in the k.u.k and through that, became driver for Archduke Franz Ferdinand.
Ferdinand Porsche’s engineering continued on a successful track, working at Lohner for about eight years. In 1906, he joined Austro-Daimler company as technical manager. In 1923, he moved to the Stuttgart-based Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft company as technical manager and executive board member. Here, his job profile included overseeing the construction of the Mercedes compressor car. In 1924, he received another honorary doctorate from the Stuttgart Technical University for his work at Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft in Stuttgart and was later given the honorary title of Professor. While at Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft he came up with several very successful race car designs. The series of models equipped with superchargers that culminated in the Mercedes-Benz SSK dominated its class of motor racing in the 1920s.
In order to form his own company, Porsche left Daimler in 1931. Porsche had received an honorary doctorate degree by Imperial Technical University in 1917. As per the Commercial Register documents from April 1931, his company was called “Dr. Ing. h. c. F. Porsche GmbH, Konstruktionen und Beratung für Motoren und Fahrzeuge” - “"Doktor Ingenieur Honoris Causa designs and consulting services for motors and vehicles”. But in 1934, Porsche was deeply involved in Adolf Hitler’s “people’s car” project. That year, while working on the project with his son Ferry Porsche, a.k.a Ferry – developed the first designs for the Volkswagen Beetle car. From then onwards, father and son worked together.
During World War II, Porsche and his son were contacted by Hitler to develop a heavy tank for the Tiger Program. Porsche submitted a prototype with an advanced drive system on paper but not on the battlefield. Due to breakdowns and crucial design flaws, a competing company got the contract to produce the Panzer tanks. Ninety to one hundred Porsche Tiger chassis were produced and later some were converted into tank destroyers called Ferdinand. They were attached with a Krupps turret and 88 mm anti-tank gun; the long-range weapon had the capacity to take out enemy tanks before they reached their own range of effective fire. Porsche became an important contributor to the German war effort and thus a member of the Nazi Party and an officer of the Schutzstaffel.
After the war ended in 1945, the French soldiers arrested Porsche, Anton Piëch (Porsche’s son-in-law), and Ferry Porsche for war crimes due to his Nazi affiliation. While Porshe was detained, his son, Ferry Porsche was set free after 6 months after which he masterminded the creation of a new racing car, the Type-360 Cisitalia along with Porsche 356, a Porsche company product to carry on its name. On returning from his detainment after 22-months in 1928, after being found not guilty, Porsche reportedly said to his son, "I would have built it exactly the same, right down to the last screw." The father-son team went on to make history in 1950, when they introduced the Porsche sports car.
Ferdinand Porsche died in Stuttgart on January 30, 1951 at the age of 75. For his accomplishments, was also awarded he German National Prize for Art and Science in 1937. Porsche was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1996 and was named the Car Engineer of the Century in 1999. Nearly 60 years later, in 2009, the Porsche Museum was opened in Zuffenhausen, a suburb of Stuggart.
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I had seriously no clue about all this history and the sheer number of achievements and experience that Mr. Porsche had! What a hardworking genius! This was a brilliant read! Great job MWTV !