This Day in History
In 1948, a hand-built prototype labeled "No. 1" becomes the first car to bear the name Porsche.
But it wasn't a first for Ferdinand Porsche. Born in 1875 in Bohemia, he was 11 years old when the automobile was invented, and as a young child, he was greatly interested in electricity.
Shortly before 1900 he started working with Jacob Lohner and created the world's first gasoline-electric hybrid automobile using wheel hub motors. In 1900, it took the World's Fair by storm.
Porsche became general director of the Austro-Daimler Company until Daimler merged with Benz in the 1920's. He was responsible for designing some of the great Mercedes racing cars of the decade.
In 1931, he formed his own company and was later called by Hitler, asking him to create a small "people's car." He designed the prototype for the original Volkswagen, kdF, in 1936.
Porsche was later accused of war crimes, and his son Ferry built a Grand Prix car for an Italian industrialist so he could pay his father's bail. When he got out, he approved of Ferry's other project, a new sports car that would be a Porsche. With funds he received for consulting with Volkswagen, he was able to open new offices and increase production of his own cars.
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