The first Porsche
Ferry Porsche wanted the car of his dreams. The problem was it didn’t exist. So in 1948 he decided to build it himself.
The Porsche 356 (shown above) was the company’s first production automobile and it remains my favorite Porsche. The prototype was hand built by Dr Ferdinand and Ferry Porsche themselves – the entire aluminum body hand beaten over a wooden buck and all the engine and drive train components made without a machine shop. The 356 was a four-cylinder, air-cooled, rear-engine, rear-wheel-drive car, its mechanicals (including engine, suspension and chassis) derived from the Volkswagen Beetle which Ferdinand Porsche senior had designed.
Porsche did for a while suffer a bit of an image problem, thanks to it being the marque of choice for divorcee middle age crisis males, braying city-types in the 1980s (not exclusive or expensive enough for them now ) and professional footballers (now moved on to Bentleys), but by eschewing design by committee and remaining small and independent, Porsche cars remain iconic examples of design driven by function rather than prevailing trends.
That said, I do think the Cayenne is so wrong…!
More here on Porsche’s independence of spirit.
For a long time I’ve resisted liking Porsche motor cars, preferring, for environmental reasons, the bicycle. But you just tipped me over the cliff. I can’t argue with your Cayenne comment either.
Tim