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| Porsche
history 1939 - 1962 |
Broadcast
date : 23rd May 2004 |
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 To understand the heritage of
the Porsche 911 it is necessary to go back to the 1930s when
the first prototypes of the Volkswagen Beetle were being
prepared for tests by the German government.
This was the car that was designed to put Germany on wheels.
It was commissioned by Adolf Hitler and designed by one of the
automotive geniuses of the twentieth century, Ferdinand
Porsche.
It is said that the first pre-war prototypes were first tested
for thirty thousand kilometres with government representatives
on board. And when there were no problems of any kind, the
Nazi government ordered the tests to be extended to fifty
thousand kilometres. And still there were no problems.
That original rear-engined, four cylinder bug-shaped car
evolved into the Volkswagen and more than twenty million were
produced between 1946 and 1978, before Beetle production in
Germany was halted and switched to the front-engined Golf.
But the Porsche design heritage would live on.
In 1948, Ferdinand Porsche's son, Ferry Porsche, produced the
first car to bare the Porsche name, the 356.
Based closely on Volkswagen Beetle mechanicals, but improved
in almost all respects, the 356 also featured a four-cylinder,
air-cooled, rear-engined design. But its aerodynamic
efficiency and fine handling soon made it a force to be
reckoned with in sports car circles.
In fact much of its aero know-how was gained from the pre-war
Rome-to-Berlin streamliner designed by the original Ferdinand
Porsche. This car is now seen as very much a part of the
Porsche sports car heritage.
The 356 was enormously successful, selling over sixty five
thousand units.
But it is said that as early as 1956 Porsche was already
designing its successor, the 911
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