 Ferry Porsche 1
kfz-tech.de/YPo1
He is the actual founder of the Porsche company, which of course could never have been founded without his father. He also refers to his father's fame. People always talk about a Porsche
construction, even if it was created in the service of a specific company.
Ferry Porsche also notes that other designers hardly make a newspaper report when they change employers. Not so with Ferdinand Porsche, who was already famous even before the Auto Union racing cars,
the Beetle or the company named after him existed.
But how did the son's life play into this? Does he even had a chance of following in his father's footsteps in any way? First of all, perhaps the situation into which he was born in Vienna in 1909. Perhaps a time
as peaceful as that in Europe from the fall of the Berlin Wall to the beginning of the war in Ukraine.
In 1908, Emperor Franz Joseph celebrated the sixtieth year of his reign together with many rulers of Europe. Only six years until the start of the First World War and yet so far away. At that time, no one
thought of the possible end of the Habsburgs, given the thousand years of monarchy in Austria-Hungary.
The successes of the industrial revolution certainly captivated the young Porsche more. His father had been technical director at Austro Daimler since 1906. On the day of his son's birth, he won in his class in
the Semmering hill climb with an improved version of the company's best-selling model.
Just imagine. The company that had a stake in Austro Daimler, which had since called itself 'Mercedes', had just completed the greatest development steps in its history thanks to a gifted Wilhelm Maybach.
And yet Austro Daimler managed to take the first three places in the 1910 Prince Heinrich race, ahead of Mercedes.
Ferry Porsche mentioned this with great respect. It could never become a rivalry between father and son, their talents were too far apart for that. Ferry was not a good student, by the way, he was too often at
the factory in the immediate vicinity of the Porsche villa. And that was even on Sundays, when his father even took him with him.
Ferry Porsche described himself as a good listener, especially in technical matters. The fact that he never liked school is evident from a list of his further career. Born in 1909, he completed secondary school
and only did an internship at Bosch in 1928. Somehow two years are missing. Where did they go?
In 1920, when he was only 11 years old, Ferry Porsche got his first car. No, not for moving by himself and not electric either, but with a 3.5 hp combustion engine and two-speed transmission. He had already
learned to drive a car long ago, and received his motorcycle license at the age of 14 and his car license at the age of 16.
And he immediately procured access to the most successful vehicles of the time, all of them supercharged four-cylinder engines with a displacement of 4.5 liters. However, it was precisely these sporting
activities that eventually led to a ban by his father. We have already mentioned his move to Steyr and the founding of his own company in Stuttgart.
This move had the advantage for Ferry Porsche of being closer to his girlfriend and later wife, who lived there. In general, it can be said that his skills gradually became more visible in this company. It was also
so important for the development of the Porsche company that it is worth listing those involved alongside Ferdinand and Ferry Porsche:
| Adolf Rosenberger | Commercial Director |
| Karl Rabe | Chief Designer |
| Karl Fröhlich | Transmission |
| Josef Kales | Engine |
| Josef Zahradnik | Undercarriage |
| Ghislaine Kaes | Secretary |
| Josef Goldinger | Master driver |
| Franz Sieberer | Office |
| Erwin Komenda* | Bodywork |
| Josef Mickl* | Calculations |
| *Will be added later |
At first it was about three projects for Wanderer, Zündapp and NSU, later about the Beetle, but in between there was quite a lot of discussion about racing cars, or more precisely, the path to a completely new
design of a racing car for Auto Union, which led to a bitter duel with Mercedes. Ferry Porsche is even allowed to test drive it.
750 kg dry weight without tires, 16 cylinders, mid-engine, initially around 220 kW (300 hp), later about twice that. In one picture we see Ferry Porsche on the engine test bench, albeit with a Beetle engine. He
was now increasingly needed for tasks within the company. 'Time and money were very tight'.
750 kg dry weight without tires, 16 cylinders, mid-engine, initially around 220 kW (300 hp), later about twice that. In one picture we see Ferry Porsche on the engine test bench, albeit with a Beetle engine. He
was now increasingly needed for tasks within the company. 'Time and money were very scarce'.
Banned from the Auto Union racing car, Ferry took part in more harmless motorsport events, with more than satisfactory results. In 1935, his first child, Ferdinand Alexander, was born. Son Porsche was
intensively involved with the results of the test drives of the first three prototypes.
Then 30 test cars were built at Mercedes and Ferry Porsche was given responsibility for carrying out the test drives for the first time. This is probably also why he was not there on Ferdinand's first trip to the
USA, but was there with his wife on the second.
The extent to which the entire team was gripped by racing fever is shown by the ultimately unfinished Mercedes-Benz T80 project with the DB 600 aircraft engine, power: over 3,700 kW (5,000 hp). It has
actually been realized and can be admired today in the museum in Stuttgart.
Mercedes T80
Which brings us slowly to the transition to projects in which the VW Beetle was targeted, not only in terms of the engine, but also with a body that was not particularly practical but much more wind-friendly.
Here, important preparatory work was done for the later Porsche.
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