In 1951, at 22, Rolf Wütherich, a mechanic and aircraft technician, had just the kinds of talent Ferry Porsche was seeking for his nascent business in Zuffenhausen. The modern equivalent might be a tech start-up. Certainly, Porsche was growing at astounding speed: the move back from Gmünd to Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen had barely been completed, and both the assembly line and development were in full swing. Within weeks, Wütherich found himself part of a small group developing a new transaxle for Porsche’s own gearbox, a component urgently needed as the stock VW item was failing under the increasing torque of Porsche’s flat fours.
Le Mans 1954: the class 1100 and 1500cc winning team
Rolf Wütherich’s enthusiasm and initiative stood out: the first full-time employee of the racing department, in April 1955, he was dispatched to the US to assist Herbert Linge. There, like Linge, he was soon involved in not just servicing and demonstrating cars, but in teaching drivers how to drive with the Porsche synchromesh gearbox. He was in the Spyder with James Dean when the latter was killed in a road accident.
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