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 Ferdinand Porsche 2
kfz-tech.de/YVW1106
In 1923, Ferdinand Porsche moved to Daimler in Stuttgart and, that same year, bought a villa in Stuttgart-Feuerbach for himself and his family. Overall, however, it must be said that Porsche took on an even more difficult
task at Daimler in Stuttgart. At the very beginning, however, luck was on his side. He was given the opportunity to take over his predecessor's project and led it to success.
That was Paul Daimler, the son of the company’s founder, who had left the company in rage in 1922 and switched to Horch, where he was finally allowed to build the eight-cylinder engines that had been denied to him in
Stuttgart. He left the 'compressor' chapter in a 2-liter four-cylinder engine, which received the final touches under Porsche's expert hands.
Approx. 50 kW (68 hp) without a supercharger and 93 kW (126 hp) with a supercharger at 4,500 rpm signaled the potential that was seen in the add-on unit. And so, one year after Porsche joined Daimler Stuttgart, Christian
Werner and Max Sailer were able to secure a victory at the Targa Florio. But that was about all Ferdinand Porsche could have enjoyed.
Germany recovered only slowly from the inflation that peaked in 1923. In addition, the government deliberately removed protective tariffs that had previously kept out, for example, the far superior American competition. It was
time for the banks to salvage what they could. For some time now, the idea of a merger with their former archrival, Benz & Cie., had been gaining traction in Stuttgart as well.
We can keep this brief: the merger took place in 1925–1926, albeit not without its challenges. However, after the capital restructuring and stock swap, only two-thirds of the operating capital remained. Total revenue for the
two companies declined even more sharply. The product portfolio was reduced rather than enlarged, for example, by adding a competitive small car.
The development of a 1.3-liter model planned by the board of directors did not take place. n an ironic twist of fate, when, following a brief period of recovery from the Great Depression struck even more setbacks occurred,
Daimler-Benz developed a rear-engined vehicle with an engine displacement as small as 1.3 liters, albeit without success.
Porsche's (honorary) doctorate was not recognized in Germany either. It took the University of Stuttgart to follow with a further honorary degree. He is certainly responsible for the K to SSKL models. But he no longer stood
out as he once did at Austro Daimler. Hans Nibel had joined from Benz, bringing with him a number of achievements.
Benz has now developed a great deal of truck technology. This included Prosper L'Orange's legendary pre-chamber process and its subsequent development. In 1927, Daimler-Benz introduced the first diesel truck without
a compressor. A test, presumably slightly manipulated test with a whole range of new cars that Porsche was unable to get running led to a scandal in 1929. The board blamed him, and he, in turn, blamed the purchasing
department, which he believed had procured batteries of insufficient quality.
This was followed by a year at Steyr fabrics, which, facing financial difficulties, was taken over by Austro-Daimler. It was the time when the infamous 'Black Friday' of 1929, with its stock market crash, had a significant impact
on Europe as well. Porsche joined the board of Steyr fabrics.
That turned out to be a mistake, however, because they had just merged with Austro-Daimler, among others, and now he finds himself dealing once again with the same people he had once left behind. But on the other
hand, he was now reunited with key colleagues, whom he took with him to his design office in Stuttgart, which he had founded in 1930.
Those must have been difficult times for the company, which was founded in 1930. In the meantime, his daughter Luise had married the Viennese lawyer Anton Piech, who acquired a 15 percent stake in the
new company, as did Adolf Rosenberger. The fact that he was of Jewish descent continued to play a role during the subsequent Nazi era.
Twelve trusted employees from Porsche’s previous position joined the company, as did Ferry Porsche after completing his one-year apprenticeship at Bosch. The conditions must have been very hard, especially from
today's perspective. Long workdays, sometimes even extended into Sunday, with room and board provided, but almost no pay.
But the atmosphere must have been truly unique. This is perhaps evident in the Zündapp project (pictured below), where, in addition to the NSU initiative launched somewhat later, the company sought to explore the
potential for a small car in the face of a foreseeable decline in the two-wheeler market. Porsche's secretary, his nephew Ghislaine Kaes, noted it in Dr. Hans-Rüdiger Etzold's book 'The Beetle II' as his sixth small-car
project.
| Porsche Type 12 – Replica at the Museum of Industrial Culture in Nuremberg |
1.2-liter five-cylinder radial engine, 70 mm * 62 mm, 4-speed transmission in front, engine behind the rear axle, 19 kW (26 HP), water cooling, wheelbase 2.500 mm, suspension using transverse leaf springs, Length
3.300 mm, Width 1.420 mm, height 1.500 mm, approx. 900 kg, 80 km/h, year of manufacture 1932.
Four ylinder flatmotor, 1.470 cm3, 80 mm * 72 mm, 4-speed transmission in front, engine behind the rear axle, 20,5 kW (28 HP) at 3300 rpm, water cooling, wheelbase 2.600 mm, trailing arm front, pivot axle
rear, torsion bar springs, approx. 870 kg, 90 km/h, manufactured 1933/1934.
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