Porsche History

We take a look at the important Porsche figures, historical moments and epic road automobiles and racecars.

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From its inception, the Porsche brand name was one associated with luxury and racecars, a tradition that has stood the test of time over the ages. The founder, Ferdinand Porsche, was once the chief engineer at Mercedes-Benz, and he even spent time working on Volkswagen vehicles. Porsche began his own company in 1931, naming the company after himself when it was incorporated. After that, Porsche began producing vehicles that would go on to become legendary for their performance and quality.

The very first Porsche nameplate was designed based on the same platform as the VW Beetle. Named the ‘Porsche 64’ and released in 1938, the model’s unique design and upscale vibe immediately caught on with buyers. Of course, the company’s growth was impeded when the war began, forcing Porsche to develop tanks instead of automobiles. However, the company bounced back as early as 1947, when the Grand Prix racing car made its debut. Shortly after, in ‘48, Ferdinand’s son Ferry Porsche created the company’s first-ever sports car – the 356.

By the 60s, the Porsche family was designing and producing popular sports cars that debuted with much anticipation at the Frankfurt International Auto Show every year. Then, in 1964, a legend was born when the first-ever Porsche 911 made its first splash in the industry. Over the next few decades, Porsche continued to expand and innovate in its lineup, until the Porsche 911 Turbo released in 1995 was the first vehicle to ever have onboard computer diagnosis, something that would revolutionize the auto service industry.

Still to this day, Porsche has maintained its status in the industry as a producer of unparalleled supercars and racing innovations. While it has many nameplates besides just the Porsche 911, the 911 is perhaps the most iconic and versatile model under the brand’s name, with over twenty-one different models and seven trim levels.

Porsche History - The Key People

The people who shaped Porsche

Ferdinand Karl “Burli” Piëch

Ferdinand Piëch (1937 – 2019) Named car executive of the century in 1999, Ferdinand Piëch transformed Volkswagen into the world’s largest carmaker by revenue. Piëch was the grandson of Ferdinand Porsche. Piëch did everything from leading motor racing operations at Porsche during the 1960s, to turning Audi into a true luxury automotive leader, and then reviving VW in the 1990s and 2000s, turning it into...

Ferdinand Porsche

Ferdinand Porsche (1875 – 1951) Ferdinand Porsche was an Austrian-German automotive engineer and founder of the Porsche car company. He is best known for creating the first gasoline-electric hybrid vehicle, the Volkswagen Beetle, the Auto Union racing car, the Mercedes-Benz SS/SSK and several other important automobiles and technologies. Most importantly though, for fans of the best sports cars in the world, Ferdinand Porsche is the...

F.A. Porsche with his iconic design work

Ferdinand Alexander Porsche

F.A. “Butzi” Porsche (1935 – 2012) Better known to Porsche enthusiasts as F.A. “Butzi” Porsche, he was the son of Dr.-Ing. Ferdinand “Ferry” and Dorothea Porsche, and grandson of Professor Ferdinand and Aloisia Porsche. While heading up the styling department at Porsche, he played a pivotal role in the design of the 904, the iconic 911, and the 914. He went on to establish Porsche...

Ferdinand Anton Ernst “Ferry” Porsche

Ferry Porsche 1909 – 1998 Born on September 19, 1909, of Austrian descent, Ferry Porsche kept the Porsche flame alive when his father was imprisoned in France. Ferry Porsche was one of the first employees to work in his father’s design engineering office, but it is his mark on the company while his father was away that made a huge difference. His realization of a...

Glossary of Porsche Related Terms

Making sense of all the fun Porsche names, terms and abbreviations

Yesteryear & Historical Porsche Moments

The mythology of Porsche goes beyond just the people. Conversations, profiles, the cars and moments.

Yesteryear PRR People & Profiles

Richard Attwood – eight decades young and still going strong

Richard Attwood relaxing between stints in the Drivers’ Paddock during the 2013 Goodwood Festival of Speed On 4 April this year, Richard Attwood will celebrate his 80th birthday, but speaking to him just a few months back about his win at Kyalami in ’69, you would not have thought as much. Attwood still oozes with enthusiasm and he will tell you just what happened and...

PRR Yesteryear People & Profiles Featured Content & Premium Editorials

Ernst Fuhrmann – the inspiration behind the 911 Turbo

Ernst Fuhrmann at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, 12 June 1977 Porsche’s first CEO is frequently maligned as the man who tried to kill off the 911. There is far more to his Porsche career than this misconception as he was the inspiration behind the 911 Turbo. This Porsche 911 Turbo 3.0 was the personal transport of Ernst Fuhrmann – photographed in Weissach in...

Motorsport & Racing PRR Yesteryear

The 1979 Sebring 12 Hour – The Tortoise comes through

The #6 Barbour, Stommelen, Mears car, a 935-78 (935-77A), enters the Sebring front straight. While this was the fastest car there, it was delayed for some laps with a brake issue and finished fourth The IMSA season in the 1970s always started with the two toughest races on the calendar, the Daytona 24 Hours and the Sebring 12 Hours. Daytona was tough because back then,...

Porsche 550 Spyder

1955 Porsche 550 Spyder

Without question, the Porsche 550 Spyder is recognized as the first Porsche that was purpose-built for racing. This compact, mid-engine sports car significantly impacted events such as the Targa Florio, Mille Miglia, 24 Hours of Le Mans, and Carrera Panamericana, often outperforming larger and more powerful rivals from Ferrari and Maserati. Herbert Linge, a renowned racing driver and Porsche’s first mechanic after the company relocated...

Porsche History PRR

Porsche’s 70th anniversary – we look back 30 years to 1988

Type 964 Porsche 911 Carrera 4 retained much of its original 1963 styling (1989MY) Last month we looked at some of Porsche’s milestones around the time of the company’s 50th anniversary in 1998. This month we track back a further ten years to 1988, and we look back 30 years at what was happening in the world of Porsche around the year. Porsche Type 2708...

Porsche 911

10 Porsche 911 Killers That Never Were

There’s hardly a brand more connected to sports cars than Porsche. To this very day, the iconic Porsche 911 remains a benchmark sports car with nothing but a few formidable competitors in the vast and ever expanding industry. While only a handful of cars came to rival it, many more have tried with limited or no success. These ten sports cars were engineered to take...

Porsche History

Porsche 911 Turbo through the decades

Inspiration for this feature came from the post published by Porsche in December 2020. It covers the seven generations of the legendary 911 Turbo from inception in the mid-1970s right up to the current 992 model. No apology is made for using some of the text from the original feature, as this includes the unparalleled comments from rally legend, Walter Röhrl, who assisted with the...

Rolex Reunion (RMMR)

Porsche Moments from the 2023 Rolex Motorsports Monterey Reunion

From the 1950s onward No stranger to the Monterey Peninsula, Porsches have always been one of the most successful marques to be celebrated during car week in Monterey. Long before “Car Week” existed, the inaugural race weekend at Laguna Seca Raceway in 1957 revealed a front row of two Porsche 550 Spyders driven by West Coast rivals Ken Miles and Jack McAfee. Steve Earle would...

Porsche History

VIDEO: Porsche Group C Reunion

Take a trip down memory lane with Derek Bell, Jochen Mass, Hans-Joachim Stuck, and Bernd Schneider as they share their experiences and memories during their time in Group C....

Porsche 908/02 K Spyder

1969 Porsche 908/02 “Flunder”

This Porsche 908/02 Flunder Spyder is one of the most extensively raced examples of one of Porsche’s most successful sports racing cars ever. In its inaugural season, chassis 908/02-018 was victorious with works pairing Jo Siffert and Brian Redman at the 1969 Watkins Glen 6 Hours – competing prolifically in successive decades right into modern times. Air-cooled prototypes The 908 and the 917 alike were...

PRR Yesteryear People & Profiles Porsche 356

Porsche congratulates motorsport legend Hans Herrmann

Hans Herrmann at the Retro Classics in Stuttgart, Germany 2010 Hans Herrmann, one of the most successful and popular racing drivers to join the Porsche AG works team, celebrates his 90th birthday this year on February 23. The endurance and Monoposto specialist, born in Stuttgart in 1928, is regarded as one of the most reliable and consistent race drivers of all time. In the course...

Porsche History

Porsche Museum Stuttgart

Porsche Museum Stuttgart Overview & Guide The new 100 million euro Porsche museum was built a 1 minute walking distance away from the old tiny museum that was located on the factory plot. The new museum project was announced in 2004 and the museum was opened on January 31, 2009. It has space for 80 cars and 200 additional exhibits in a 5600 m2 /...

Motorsport & Racing PRR Yesteryear

1971 Daytona 24 hours – Battle of the Giants

The Martini team run by Hans-Dieter Dechent had three cars, two to race, and one T-car. The #3 was driven by the two Austrians, Helmut Marko and Rudi Lins Some say this was the best Daytona 24 hour ever. It certainly was the closest finish up to that point in time. My friend Hal Crocker called this time in sports car racing, a battle of the...

The fastest 935 of them all!

Porsche 935 JLP-4 at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, 2014 JLP-4 was the final race car in the line of Porsche 935 specials built for the John Paul father and son team. Using this final ‘weapon’, the Pauls notched up several outright victories in IMSA races and, in combination with JLP-3, John Paul Jr won the 1982 IMSA Camel Driver’s Championship. JLP-4 was the only...

Porsche History PRR

Porsche’s 70th anniversary – we look back 40 years to 1978

The Porsche 928 was launched in 1978 – this is a 1980 model The Porsche company, now 30 years old in 1978, had moved from being the small-scale manufacturing company to being a significant player, albeit in a niche market. The front-engined transaxle 924 model, introduced in 1976, was now selling twice the number of units that the 911 was selling. This had eased the...

Motorsport & Racing PRR Yesteryear

Dick Barbour Racing at the 1980 Le Mans 24 Hours

Chassis #000 00023 gets a check out on the autobahn by the Kremer brothers prior to Le Mans. Manfred Kremer drove it Erwin Kremer and Jerry Woods followed in a 928 chase car. Le Mans in 1980 was in kind of a transition. The Porsche 935 K3 had won the prior year. Kremer built on the success and sold quite a few customer cars, and...

Porsche Type 540 America Roadster

Porsche’s Most Enigmatic Model — the America Roadster

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Porsche History

Petersen Museum’s “We are Porsche” exhibit

In collaboration with Porsche Cars North America, the never-seen-before display – named “We are Porsche” – will celebrate the storied marque’s 75th anniversary and feature the key models and personalities behind the brand’s success. “We Are Porsche” opens to the public on April 16 at the Petersen Automotive Museum and focuses on how influential figures in the U.S. helped transform Porsche from a builder of...

Motorsport & Racing PRR Yesteryear

12 Hours of Sebring 1986 – Things go better with Coke

Hans Stuck at the wheel on the way to winning Sebring in 1986. His co-drivers were Jo Gartner and Bob Akin. (Porsche 962 chassis #962-113) The 2.6-litre Porsche 956 which raced in the 1982/1983 seasons in Europe, was not accepted for racing in the USA, and so the 962 was developed by the factory. The sticking point was that the pedal box of the 956...

Porsche Museum

Porsche Museum turns 15

Fifteen years ago, the Porsche Museum opened its doors to visitors from all over the world for the first time. Since 31 January 2009, it has taken 5,824,325 people on a fascinating journey through the history and development of the Porsche brand. This figure includes celebrity visitors such as Paris Hilton, the Backstreet Boys, Vladimir Klitschko, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mario Barth, Patrick Dempsey, AC/DC, Peter Maffay,...

Porsche 934

The Story of 1976 Porsche 934, 930 670 0161

There are 934s, and there are 934s… The Porsche 934 has long lived in the shadow of its more powerful sibling, the Porsche 935. This is a shame. Not only was the 934 faster than the Carrera RSR that it supplanted (naturally!), but many 934s went on to have very interesting lives—being progressively updated to try and keep abreast, if not ahead of, their competitors....

Porsche Life

The White Collection Memorabilia

From RM Sotheby’s: Just months ago, we had the privilege of revealing the mystery of The White Collection—selling over 50 white Porsches of rare make, mileage, and vintage, along with a host of unique and highly collectible Porsche parts and memorabilia. What you didn’t know was this wasn’t all of the collection. Now, available for only three weeks, we’re offering the last of The White...

Porsche 962

Snap Shot: 1984 Porsche 962

Edited by Rex McAfee, Photos © Canepa A Legend is Born: When something great comes along, people scramble at every opportunity to be a part of it, and the Porsche 962 in IMSA was no exception. With approximately 16 total Porsche factory-built IMSA-spec customer cars delivered, it’s easy to say that the new Porsche was a hot commodity. With the previous racing experience of the...

Porsche 959

Retrospect: The Porsche 959

When discussing breakthroughs in sportscar technology, the Porsche 959 merits its own chapter, if not a book. Introduced in the mid-1980s, this genuine supercar emerged as a spearhead of innovation, vastly surpassing the technology Porsche had developed to date. While the standard 911 was not short on performance or prestige, the 959 took its legacy further, introducing features that were well ahead of the entire...

Porsche News

75 years of Porsche sports cars: Porsche celebrates a success story

Celebrating the birth of a legendary brand In 1948, Ferry Porsche realized his dream of a sports car: with his team, he produced the Porsche 356 ‘No. 1’ Roadster. It marked the birth of a legendary brand and laid the foundation for an exemplary success story for the Porsche legend. “75 years of Porsche stand for pioneering spirit, passion, and dreams. We are celebrating together...

Porsche Logo & Crest – Guide

Gmünd, Carinthia, Austria

Porsche People Profiles

Porsche has a rich history of amazing personalities, whether it be designers, managers, engineers or race car drivers.

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Porsche History

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