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Tag: Porsche

January 30, 1951 – Ferdinand Porsche dies
30Jan By Automotive HistoryNo Comments
This Day

January 30, 1951 – Ferdinand Porsche dies

Ferdinand Porsche, International Motorsports Hall of Fame member and Car Engineer of the 20th Century, died on this day in 1941 at the age of 75. Aside from founding the company that bears his name, Porsche developed several other beloved and distinguished automobiles. His first automotive creation, an electric-gas hybrid vehicle known as the Lohner-Porsche Mixte, debuted in 1898. The vehicle, manufactured from 1900 to 1905, became the first mass produced hybrid to combine these two power sources. In 1902 Porsche received military draft orders. During his time in uniform he served as a chauffeur to Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, the crown prince of Austria. His assassination would ignite WWI a decade later. Above: The Lohner-Porsche Mixte Hybrid. Top: Ferdinand Porsche with a...
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September 30, 1955 – James Dean dies driving Porsche 550 Spyder
30Sep By Automotive HistoryNo Comments
Features, This Day

September 30, 1955 – James Dean dies driving Porsche 550 Spyder

Actor James Dean had just finished filming the movie Giant and was ready to get back to the action on the racetrack. During production of the movie, Warner Bros. barred Dean from pursuing a new passion, racing. The fear, of course, was injury, or worse, death. Unfortunately, Dean would not make it to the track before fate had its way. On this day in 1955, at the age 0f 24, James Dean was killed behind the wheel of his new Porsche 550 Spyder, en route to the Salinas Road Race.  Dean driving a Porsche 356 Dean, who starred in such movies as East of Eden, Giant and Rebel Without a Cause, took an interest in auto racing in 1954. His first professional race would come at Palm Springs Road Races, held March 26-27, 1955. The young driver's were on full display, taking first place in t...
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September 3, 1875 – Ferdinand Porsche is born
3Sep By Automotive HistoryNo Comments
Features, This Day

September 3, 1875 – Ferdinand Porsche is born

Ferdinand Porsche, International Motorsports Hall of Fame member and Car Engineer of the 20th Century, was born on this day in 1875 in current day Czech Republic. Aside from founding Porsche, this is the man responsible for some of the world’s most beloved and distinguished automobiles. His first automotive creation, an electric-gas hybrid vehicle known as the Lohner-Porsche Mixte, debuted in 1898. It was the first mass produced hybrid vehicle to combine these two power sources and it was manufactured from 1900 to 1905. A 1902 draft saw Porsche enter military service where he served as chauffeur to Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, the crown prince of Austria. His assassination would ignite WWI a decade later. Above: The Lohner-Porsche Mixte Hybrid. Top: Ferdinand Porsche with a...
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June 8, 1948 – The first car with a Porsche badge debuts
8Jun By Brian CoreyNo Comments
This Day

June 8, 1948 – The first car with a Porsche badge debuts

Ferdinand Porsche, an automotive consultant, designer and engineer, debuted his first vehicle at the World’s Fair in Paris in 1900. In 1936 the Nazi party recruited him to design an affordable vehicle for the German people, which evolved into Volkswagen. Following WWII, Ferdinand was arrested for war crimes and his son Ferry took over the family firm. While struggling to keep it afloat, a wealthy Italian approached Ferry, announcing his wish for a new race car. The family business went to work, creating the Type 360 Cisitalia. The car would fund Ferdinand's bail, but by then he had already approved a new project being spearheaded by his son, the 356/1 prototype. It became the first car to officially bear the Porsche name, and too its maiden voyage on this day in 1948 during its road c...
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Classic Car Job: Gunther Werks
1Dec By Automotive HistoryNo Comments
Classic Car Jobs, Features

Classic Car Job: Gunther Werks

Gunther Werks is an automotive restoration company who currently remaster the Porsche 993 and turn it into a modern and respectful homage of the Porsche 993’s iconic heritage from a quarter century ago. Based in Huntington Beach, California, Gunther Werks designs, develops, and delivers the ultimate air-cooled Porsche experience. Employing modern procedures for materials and race-bred components, Gunther Werks specializes in performance restorations of the iconic Porsche 993. Regarded by many as the pinnacle of the 911®, the team at Gunther Werks has worked tirelessly to retain the driving experience offered by the original car, while evolving its DNA. The company name is inspired by Günther F. Wendt, a German American mechanical engineer with a background working in NASA’s Merc...
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November 26, 1963 – Porsche debuts the 904 Carrera GTS
26Nov By Automotive History20 Comments
This Day

November 26, 1963 – Porsche debuts the 904 Carrera GTS

After withdrawing from Formula One at the end of the 1962 season, Porsche refocused its attention to sports cars, where the company originally made a name for itself. Still wanting to compete on the track, they looked to dominate the FIA-GT sports car class. To do so, engineers developed the mid-engine Porsche 904, which debuted on this day in 1963. It is officially called the Carerra GTS due to a naming rights issue, similar to why the Porsche 901 became the Porsche 911. The 904 became Porsche’s first vehicle to use a ladder chassis and a fiberglass body. Its engine was inherited from its predecessor, the 718, which was the factory’s leading race car at the time. The 1,966 cc, four-cam flat four made 180 hp and pushed the car to 160 miles per hour when red lined in fifth gear. Ab...
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April 6, 1904 – VW Beetle & Porsche 356 designer Erwin Komenda is born
6Apr By Automotive HistoryNo Comments
This Day

April 6, 1904 – VW Beetle & Porsche 356 designer Erwin Komenda is born

Sure, Ferdinand Porsche often gets the credit for the Volkswagen Type 1, but let's not forget he had a huge team working for him during its development. Among his employees was Erwin Komenda, who first met Porsche while employed as a designer at Steyr in the late 1920s. When Porsche left Steyr and began his own automotive engineering and consultuation firm, Komenda followed him. He became the head of the the bodywork design department, a position he would hold until his death in 1966. Above: Erwin Komenda was a lead designer for the 1936 Porsche Type 60 prototype for the German "Volkswagen". By Ralf Roletschek -GFDL 1.2. Top: Erwin Komenda, left, with Ferry Porsche and Ferdinand Porsche and the first Porsche 356. Early in his career with Porsche, he designed the body of what wou...
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This Day in Automotive History is a transportation history, car history and general automotive history website dedicated to providing informative and entertaining content. Our goal is to enlighten our readers by producing and publishing automotive content on a wide range of topics, including famous cars, important automotive inventors and engineers and other historic automobile related events, places and people. We encourage you to share our page and connect with us on Facebook or sign up for our automotive history newsletter at the top of this page. If you have any questions about the content we publish, including our car videos and car history pictures and text and the use of them, please don’t hesitate to contact us using the below email address. On occasion we post classic cars for sale from Craigslist, Facebook and other online marketplaces. We utilize imagery from those ads in a fair use fashion. This includes barn finds for sale, muscle cars for sale, vans for sale, station wagons for sale, trucks for sale and other affordable old cars for sale. If you’d like your car featured, reach out to us!

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