Ferdinand Porsche (3 September 1875 – 30 January 1951) was an Austrian automotive engineer and honorary Doctor of Engineering. He is best known for creating the first hybrid vehicle (gasoline-electric), the Volkswagen Beetle. Ferdinand Porsche was born to German-speaking parents in Maffersdorf (Czech: Vratislavice nad Nisou), northern Bohemia, during the time of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, today in the Czech Republic.
He showed high aptitude for mechanical work at a very young age. He managed to attend classes at the Imperial Technical School inReichenberg (Czech: Liberec) at night while helping his father in his mechanical shop by day. Thanks to a referral, Porsche landed a job with the Béla Egger Electrical company in Vienna when he turned 18.[3] In Vienna he would sneak into the local university whenever he could after work. Beyond auditing classes there, Porsche had never received any higher engineering education. During his five years withBéla Egger, Porsche first developed the electric hub motor.
How the product get its name
In June 1934, Porsche received a contract from Hitler to design a "people's car" (or Volkswagen), following on from his previous designs such as the 1931 Type 12 car designed for Zündapp. The first two prototype cars were completed in 1935. These were followed by several further pre-production batches during 1936 to 1939. The car was similar to the contemporary designs of Hans Ledwinka of Tatra, which resulted in a lawsuit against Porsche settled by Volkswagen only several years after World War II. A new city, "Stadt des KdF-Wagens", near Fallerslebenwas founded for the Volkswagen factory, but wartime production concentrated almost exclusively on the military Kübelwagen andSchwimmwagen variants. Mass production of the car, which later became known as the Beetle, commenced after the end of the war. The city is named Wolfsburg today and is still the headquarters of Volkswagen Group.
  |
The Car of The Century
In 1991 the Volkswagen Beetle was acclaimed Car of the Century, an accolade awarded by a panel of 100 motoring journalists from 37 different countries including Britain. Unlike the Model T Ford, which came second, the Beetle refuses to die, still being produced in increasing quantity in Mexico.
It's hardly surprising it was voted Car of the Century.
What other car can boast such huge sales, over 21 million, what other car can boast such a long production period, 52 years and still going strong.
What other car had such an unusual and controversial conception. The brainchild of, regardless of your political persuasion, possibly the most evil man in history, Adolf Hitler and then being designed by one of the now most famous, admired and respected car designers, Porsche.
Although most Porsche drivers would prefer not to be reminded of the latter.
More amazingly, the design has not changed that much in 50 years.
In 1991 the Volkswagen Beetle was acclaimed Car of the Century, an accolade awarded by a panel of 100 motoring journalists from 37 different countries including Britain. Unlike the Model T Ford, which came second, the Beetle refuses to die, still being produced in increasing quantity in Mexico.
It's hardly surprising it was voted Car of the Century.
What other car can boast such huge sales, over 21 million, what other car can boast such a long production period, 52 years and still going strong.
What other car had such an unusual and controversial conception. The brainchild of, regardless of your political persuasion, possibly the most evil man in history, Adolf Hitler and then being designed by one of the now most famous, admired and respected car designers, Porsche.
Although most Porsche drivers would prefer not to be reminded of the latter.
More amazingly, the design has not changed that much in 50 years.
The Future?
I'm sure you have all heard about and seen pictures of the 'new Beetle', if not here's two more. The new Beetle made its debut at the Detroit Motor Show on January 1994, with the hard top prototype |
The similarity to the Beetle is certainly only skin deep (and what a nice skin it is to) it is front wheel drive, transversely mounted, water cooled engine, it has twin air-bags and is based on the Polo floorpan. Also featured is power assisted steering, MacPherson strut-type front suspension and a Golf style compound crank rear axle.
The wheels are quite large as can be seen, 18in instead of the usual 13 or 14in.
Inlcuded in the specification is automatic transmission, side impact door beams, front and rear crumple zones and air-conditioning.
0 comments:
Post a Comment