Porsche Automobiles History

Austrian engineer Ferdinand Porsche founded the company called "Dr. Ing. h. c. F. Porsche GmbH" in Austria in 1931, then moved to its main offices at Kronenstraße 24 in the centre of Stuttgart. Initially, the company offered motor vehicle development work and consulting, but did not build any cars under its own name. One of the first assignments the new company received was from the German government to design a car for the people, that is a "Volkswagen". This resulted in the Volkswagen Beetle, one of the most successful car designs of all time. The Porsche 64 was developed in 1939 using many components from the Beetle.
At the end of World War II in 1945, the Volkswagen factory at KdF-Stadt fell to the British. Ferdinand lost his position as Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen, and Ivan Hirst, a British Army Major, was put in charge of the factory. (In Wolfsburg, the Volkswagen company magazine dubbed him "The British Major who saved Volkswagen.") On 15 December of that year, Ferdinand was arrested for war crimes, but not tried. During his 20-month imprisonment, Ferdinand Porsche's son, Ferry Porsche, decided to build his own car, because he could not find an existing one that he wanted to buy. He also had to steer the company through some of its most difficult days until his father's release in August 1947. The first models of what was to become the 356 were built in a small sawmill in Gmünd, Austria. The prototype car was shown to German auto dealers, and when pre-orders reached a set threshold, production (with Aluminium body) was begun by Porsche Konstruktionen GesmbH founded by Ferry and Louise. Many regard the 356 as the first Porsche simply because it was the first model sold by the fledgling company along with Porsche 360. After the production of 356 was taken over by the father's Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche GmbH in Stuttgart in 1950, Porsche commissioned a Zuffenhausen-based company, Reutter Karosserie, which had previously collaborated with the firm on Volkswagen Beetle prototypes, to produce the 356's steel body. In 1952, Porsche constructed an assembly plant (Werk 2) across the street from Reutter Karosserie; the main road in front of Werk 1, the oldest Porsche building, is now known as Porschestrasse. The 356 was road certified in 1948.
n 1964, after a fair amount of success in motor-racing with various models including the 550 Spyder, and with the 356 needing a major re-design, the company launched the Porsche 911: another air-cooled, rear-engined sports car, this time with a six-cylinder "boxer" engine. The team to lay out the body shell design was led by Ferry Porsche's eldest son, Ferdinand Alexander Porsche (F. A.). The design phase for the 911 caused internal problems with Erwin Komenda, who led the body design department until then. F. A. Porsche complained Komenda made unauthorized changes to the design. Company leader Ferry Porsche took his son's drawings to neighboring chassis manufacturer Reuter. Reuter's workshop was later acquired by Porsche (so-called Werk 2). Afterward Reuter became a seat manufacturer, today known as Keiper-Recaro.
The 911 has become Porsche's most well-known and iconic model - successful on the race-track, in rallies, and in terms of road car sales. Far more than any other model, the Porsche brand is defined by the 911. It remains in production; however, after several generations of revision, current-model 911s share only the basic mechanical configuration of a rear-engined, six-cylinder coupé, and basic styling cues with the original car. A cost-reduced model with the same body, but with 356-derived four-cylinder engine, was sold as the 912.
Today Porsche is once again realigned with Volkswagen and remains a competitor in motorsports and the manufacturers of sports cars, SUVs and Sedans that are desired by buyers all over the world.
For those who speak German this film is a rare opportunity to hear Ferry Porsche describe Porsche's history.
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Ref: S297

[@cavan216]

I think it's pretty cool how you do this, funny to see some of the old designs and "in style" features of the past haha keep doing them man

[@KingRoseArchives]

CWK1998 Thank you.

[@enzoalec92]

Plenty of footage here I recognise from Need For Speed: Porsche Unleashed. :')

[@limit55]

Do we know who’s driving the MGTC with the Porsche in the beginning?

[@themadmonz2498]

Sound and English commentary would be nice!!!

[@zonoscopePictures]

The footage shot with what was essentially a home movie camera would not have recorded sound. It would have been recorded seperately or added in post

[@mgmpw32]

Wow, I take it the first minutes of footage are at the Porsche family home in Stuttgart, where they hand-built the first Beetles.

[@skoldmo762]

Name of the documentary ?

[@itsthecounselor3537]

sound starts after the 5:00 mark

[@Bangkok-ik1fp]

Give me a body/structure, engine/trans. and eliminate all the comforts and accessories that add nothing to the pure enjoyment of driving. Give me a 916!

[@frankfitzpatrick5300]

sound ???

[@KingRoseArchives]

This is raw film that was recorded without sound.

[@modernworldiscrap]

The time when Porsche produced sports car, not computerized hybrid or electric bullshit...