All you need to know about Porsche.
Date of birth: 1948
Nationality: German
The first Porsche car wasn't built until well after the second World War, but as far back as 1900 young engineer-test driver Ferdinand Porsche devised innovative hub motors for the Lohner-Porsche Electric Car shown at the Paris Expo. Later, as technical director and board member of Daimler, he developed the Mercedes SS and SK supercharged sports cars.
He set up his own engineering company in 1931 and, under commission by NSU, produced the predecessor of the Volkswagen, the Type 32.
After the war, the company moved to Austria and under the direction of Ferdinand Porsche Jr began sports car development. First was a Grand Prix car on behalf of Cisitalia, which later was produced with driver-controlled 4WD. The first car to bear the Porsche name was a 1948 roadster with VW parts, the 356 with a 1.1-litre engine.
In 1951, a 356 raced in Le Mans. In 1955, actor James Dean was killed driving his rare 550A Spyder (above) in California.
The legendary 911 name might never have come into existence if Peugeot had not protested the 901 designation with which it was introduced at Frankfurt in 1963. It had a 2.0-litre flat 6 air-cooled rear-mounted engine which was enlarged to 2.2-, 2.4-, 2.7-, 3.0- and 3.3 litres. In 1965, a four-cylinder version, the 1.6-litre 912, was introduced and became very successful.
Towards the end of the 1960s, Porsche experimented with a production mid-engined car - the 914, with a VW engine, was not well received by true Porsche-lovers. The next legend, the 911 Turbo with "whale-tail spoiler", was introduced at Paris in 1973.
In the mid-1970s, the 924 broke all the traditions by being front-located, water-cooled and four-cylindered. Later in the decade, the 928 repowered this format with a V8 engine. In 1981, the 911 got 4WD and in 1984 won the 1984 Paris-Dakar Rally. In 1986, the 911-based 959 rally cars came first, second and sixth in the rally.
In 1991 the 968, which had evolved from the original 928 was powered by a 5.4-litre V8 outputting 350 bhp. In 1994 the Carrera 4 introduced a viscous coupling transmitting power to the wheels.
The Boxster, in concept a "more affordable" Porsche, arrived in 1996 with a mid-located engine. On Porsche's 50th anniversary, in 1998, more than a million had been produced, with an estimated two-thirds still on the road. It was also the year that the latest 911 Cabriolet gained electro-hydraulic operation. That year, Ferdinand (Ferry) Porsche Jr died at the age of 88. This year is the 40th anniversary of the 911, one of motoring's true iconic cars.
Best Car: 911 Turbo
Worst Car: 914
Weirdest Car: New Englander Bruce Corwin's 1994 968 fitted with a snowplow. He says it allows the car earn him money in winter instead of costing him for storage.