A U T O M O T I V E T R E A S U R E S
TheBeetle, 356and911
The year is 1933 — a tenuous time in Germany. For Auto Union, Porsche de- velops a Grand Prix racecar with a 16-cyl- inder engine in mid-ship configuration. The rear-engine vehicle concept designed for the compact car (Type 32) developed for NSU is ultimately incorporated in the Volkswagen Beetle. The following year the company received an official order for the design and construction of a Ger- man Volkswagen. Only one year later, the VW prototype is test driven. The Ur Beetle is assembled in the garage of the Porsche villa in Stuttgart. In 1935, Ferdinand Alexander Porsche was born in Stuttgart. He is the eldest son of Ferry Porsche.
Over the next nine years, Ferdinand oversaw construction of production facil- ities for Volkswagen and was instrumental in the growth and popularity of VW’s Bee- tle. During the year 1939, Porsche built long-distance endurance competition race cars nicknamed The Berlin-Rom-Wagen. These incredible racers are considered the forefathers of all later Porsche sports cars. Owing to the wartime conditions of 1944, Ferdinand moved the Porsche KG engineering office to Gmünd in the Aus- trian province of Carinthia. Two years later, under the direction of Ferdinand’s son Ferry, design of an all-wheel drive Grand Prix racecar — the Cisitalia (Type 360) — was begun for Italian industrialist
Piero Dusio. At the age of 72, Ferdinand realized his family’s dream. In 1948, the 356 becomes the first sports car to bear the Porsche name. No. 1, as it is known, was roadcertified in June. Just one month later, the lightweight mid-engine roadster won its first class victory at the Innsbruck Stadtrennen. With the class victory of a 356 SL at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1950, the young sports car manufacturer Porsche won international acclaim. That same year, with the 356 in full production back in Germany, company founder Ferdinand Porsche died at the age of 75.
3 8 • F I N K ’ S J E W E L E R S
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