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 Ferdinand Porsche was one of the greatest automotive
engineers of all time. Though largely uneducated, he designed the first
petroleum-electric hybrid vehicle, a series of successful racing cars, and the
first Volkswagen.
Ferdinand Porsche was born on September 3, 1875 in Vratislavice nad Nisou, a district in the
city of Liberec in what is now the Czech Republic.
As a boy, he took classes at Liberec's Imperial Technical School
and worked in his father's machine shop. When he turned 18, Porsche moved to Vienna, Austria,
where he worked for the Béla Egger Electrical Company and audited
classes at a local university. During his five-year career at Béla Egger,
Porsche developed an electric hub motor for motorized bicycles.
Porsche's First Car
 In 1898, Porsche joined Jackob Lohner & Co, a
Vienna-based builder of coaches and automobiles. Porsche's first design, a carriage-like
car powered by lead-acid batteries and driven by dual electric motors, debuted
at the Paris World Exhibition in December of that same year. Although Porsche's
first vehicle was speedy, its 1,800-kg battery-pack made hill-climbing
difficult. The inventor's solution, an internal combustion engine and a smaller
battery pack, represented the first petroleum-electric hybrid vehicle.
From Austro-Daimler to Daimler Motoren Gessellschaft
After serving in the military from 1902 to 1906, Ferdinand
Porsche became chief designer for the Austro-Daimler automobile company. In
1910, his 85-hp Model 27/80 won first place in the Prince Henry Tour, a
precursor to the German Grand Prix. Several years later, he was promoted to
managing director and awarded an honorary doctorate from Vienna Technical
University. Although Porsche
continued to build successful cars, winning 43 out of 53 races in 1922 was not
enough. A year later, he left Austro-Daimler after a disagreement with senior
management over the company's future.
Austro-Daimler's loss was Daimler Motoren Gessellschaft's
gain. The German automaker's decision to hire Ferdinand Porsche as technical
director would soon change the balance of power in European racing. During the second
half of the 1920s , Porsche's designs included race cars equipped with
superchargers, belt or gear-driven devices which pressurize a fuel-air mixture
to increase engine power. Porsche's push for small, lightweight vehicle was far
less popular with his employer's board of directors, however. Frustrated by
their disinterest, he left Stuttgart for Austria's Steyr
Automobile Company, where he worked until economic depression crushed the
automaker in 1931.
From Employee to Engineering Consultant
Ferdinand Porsche returned to Stuttgart, Germany
in that same year and started his a consulting firm. After recruiting several
of his former coworkers, he designed a successful four-cylinder sedan for
Wanderer, a German automaker. As Porsche's business grew, he revisited his old
notion of a small, lightweight car. Partnerships with Zundapp and NSU Motorenwerke (NSU) were
promising at first, but the motorcycle builders were busy reaping the rewards
from the sales of their motorcycles.
Adolph Hitler's rise to power would change Porsche's
fortunes.
Porsche, Hitler and Volkswagen
 As part of his National Socialist agenda, Hitler sought the
creation of a car that the average worker could afford. In 1933, the German
Chancellor met with Ferdinand Porsche to describe the Third Reich's
requirements for a vehicle that could carry two adults and three children,
travel at speeds up to 60 mph, get at least 33 mpg, and cost under 1000 reichmarks.
By the winter of 1936, Porsche had finished three Volkswagen ("people's car) prototypes. A year later, he joined a
Nazi administrator at a newly-built car factory near Hanover. Today, Wolfsburg is still Volkswagen's headquarters.
 Ferdinand Porsche's deal with the devil lasted throughout
the 1930s and during World War II. In helping to design the Tiger I, Tiger II
and Elefant tanks, Porsche powered
Hitler's war machine and its blitzkrieg attacks.
After the war, Porsche moved to France
to resume his Volkswagen designs. He was arrested as a war criminal, however,
and languished in prison while his son, Ferry Porsche, struggled to keep the
family business alive. The Porsche 356, the first production automobile to bear
the Porsche name, was built in an old saw mill by hand.
Return to Germany
In 1949, Ferdinand Porsche returned to Stuttgart and was hired as a consultant by
Volkswagen, which had since reverted to German control. For his efforts,
Porsche received a royalty on every Volkswagen Type I built. Porsche also
visited VW's rebuilt factory in Wolfsburg
and advised company president Heinrich Nordhoff about the car that became affectionately
known as the Volkswagen Better and the VW Bug.
Several weeks after his visit to Wolfsburg, Ferdinand Porsche suffered a
stroke. He never recovered, and died on January 30, 1951.
Resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hub_motor
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_Porsche
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steyr_Automobile
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wanderer_%28car%29
http://ask.yahoo.com/20050308.html
http://www.autohistory.org/feature_6.html
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