| The story of Porsche could begin in 1950 with the | | | | him to establish his own engineering group, which |
| introduction of the Porsche 356 to the United | | | | became Porsche A.G. He collected a premier |
| States by Max Hoffman. It could begin in 1948, | | | | group of engineers to work under the name of |
| when the first auto bearing the name of Porsche | | | | "Doctor of Engineering Ferdinand Porsche, Inc. |
| came out. However, to get a real grip on the | | | | Construction Facility for Land, Air, and Sea |
| heritage of Porsche, you must go back as far as | | | | Transportation" in Stuttgart. His son, Ferry, was |
| 1875. In September of that year, Ferdinand | | | | one of his employees, and his major interest was |
| Porsche was born in the bohemian village of | | | | in sport and racing cars. |
| Haffersdorf. | | | | The elder Porsche and his engineers were busy. |
| Ferdinand Porsche showed indications of his | | | | They developed for Steyr, a luxury sedan in |
| technical genius at the age of 18 when he wired | | | | Austria, but this vehicle did not make it out of the |
| the family home for electricity. His only formal | | | | prototype stage. They also worked for Auto |
| education was received when he was a part-time | | | | Union, which is now Audi, the firm that created |
| engineering student in Vienna, although the title | | | | the Front, the first front-drive economy car in the |
| 'Doctor' is often appended to his name. By the | | | | world. They also created the mid-engine Grand |
| time he was 25, Porsche had gone into | | | | Prix cars and supercharged V-12 and V-16 |
| automotive design. The Viennese firm of Loyner | | | | engines. These, along with the racers from |
| & Co. accepted his first car design. Over the next | | | | Mercedes-Benz, dominated European auto |
| twenty years, he successfully associated himself | | | | racetracks for almost ten years. |
| with every major car manufacturer in Germany, | | | | The company created its most well-known |
| and he designed about a dozen of the most | | | | designs for NSU and Zundapp. Prototypes were |
| technically important automobiles in history at the | | | | characterized by Porsche's torsion-bar suspension |
| same time. | | | | and rear-mounted engine. Neither of the firms |
| When he worked for Mercedes-Benz, he helped | | | | manufactured the designs, so Porsche sold the |
| to create the SSK series, while for NSU, he | | | | idea to the German government. He then |
| designed the Auto Union Wandered and the Type | | | | provided the oversight on the construction of a |
| 32, which as an ancestor of the Volkswagen | | | | plant in Wolfsburg to build the design. He called it |
| Beetle. His disagreements with Mercedes-Benz | | | | the Type 60, but the world knows it as the |
| over the company's engineering policies prompted | | | | Volkswagen Beetle. |