Ferdinand Porsche - A Man ahead of His Time

Only one man has ever been voted car engineer of the 20th century that's up against some serious competition. But then he did build one of the first electric cars, invented the first petrol/electric hybrid, designed the best selling car of all time and built the biggest tanks ever created.
Ferdinand Porsche left a very large legacy not to mention what is now a very large business empire. This is the story of the the man that was ahead of his time in many ways.

Written, Researched and Presented by Paul Shillito

Images and footage : Porsche AG, Tesla, Mercedes Benz, Volkswagon, Tatra, Porsche Museum

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[djjurky]

Your narration is absolutely fantastic. Could listen to you all day.

[MoritzvonSchweinitz]

The VAG conglomerate (Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche, Seat, Skoda, Bugatti and a couple of other brands) is STILL firmly in the hands of the Porsche and Piech families.

[michaeldunne]

Ferdinand Porsche is always an interesting subject to cover, from many angles. Definitely a skilled engineer. However, as for the controversy over the VW design, "Porsche himself sheepishly admitted to having 'looked over Ledwinka's shoulders' while designing the 'people's car, ' and in 1961 Volkswagen finally paid 3 million Deutschmarks in settlement to Tatra's successor." (pages 122 and 123 of "The Life of the Automobile").

Then there is the case of Josef Ganz, which was less clear: "The low-cost Standard Superior, which Hitler admired at the 1933 Berlin Motor Show, and which was designed by German-Hungarian engineer Josef Ganz, not only looked suspiciously like Porsche's later design for the KdF-Wagon (particularly in its more curvaceous, production form), but Standard Fahrzeugfabrik of Berlin subsequently promoted it as the 'Deutsche Volkswagen, ' the 'people car.' As a Jew, however, Ganz was easily sidelined; he was arrested in 1933 and fled to Switzerland the following year" (page 123 of "The Life of the Automobile").

As for the Stadt des KdF-Wagens plant that would become the Volkswagen's signature Wolfsburg plant, it was based on Ford's Rouge River plant, and believe that considerable advice, knowledge transfer as well as substantive technology transfer from Ford was needed (or desired) to make the project viable. For example, from the Volkswagen site on the corporate history:
"The three directors of Volkswagenwerk GmbH and staff from Porsche KG set off on a four-week trip to Detroit in order to broaden their knowledge of Ford’s mass production methods and to buy specialist American machinery. They also recruit a number of German-American experts employed at Ford."
"Fritz Kuntze, the former power plant manager at Ford’s River Rouge factory recruited by Ferdinand Porsche, sketches out initial plans for the complex, "

[Robadoin]

14:25 not the Ferdinand. That image is fake, made of a Jagdtiger using Porsche suspension (which is historically accurate) however the superstructure wasn't rear mounted, it was mid mounted

[alaric_]

Great to see video of my favourite car designer and the early days of his company. When everyone else is gasping and drooling over Ferraris or Lamborghinis, it was always a Porsche in my eyes that was the best.

[SaturnCanuck]

Aw yes the Kubelwagen. Which resurfaced in the mid-1970s as the Volkswagen Thing. And don't forget the amphibious version, the Schwimmwagen. It is interesting to hear you call the car the Nine One One, when in Canada we say Nine Eleven.

[tihzho]

12:22 Correction: The Germans had not developed a diesel engine that could power the Tiger 1 tank. Instead a petrol (gasoline) engine the 21.35-litre (1303 cu.in.) 12-cylinder Maybach HL210 P45 developing 485 kW (650 hp) at 3, 000 rpm was used instead.

first vehicle my mother ever drove, back in the 50"s was a Porsche 111K Diesel Cabriolet. While my grandparents where not rich, that particular Porsche happened to be quite affordable and a lot more practical than your usual Porsche.

[captiannemo]

In fact the Maus section has issues. Porsche as a company was also involved heavily with the German side of the MBT 70 through numerous subsidiaries most of which carried the Porsche name.

[ThomasKrul]

Really feels like you glossed over the whole "borrowing/copying/stealing" he did from Hans Ledwinka, but props to him for those early electric and hybrid vehicles!

[PeterKreft]

The pic at 14:28 could be a precursor of the later Jagdtiger. But it could also be photoshoped since the turret covers the rear engine and there is no sense in having the long bow unit.

[msamov]

Great topic. Being a 911 owner and enthusiast, I would love to see a sequel about the history of the 901/911 and how PORSCHE has completed a "360" back to hybrid performance technology starting with the awesome 919 and its record at Le Mans AND culminating with the new hyper prototypes that will be racing for the first time next year at Le Mans 100 year anniversary. Porsche has deep roots in electric powered automobiles and is the only manufacturer taking on Tesla in the electric performance. Again, great topic Paul!

[schootingstarr]

Slight corrections:
Anton Piechs name is pronounced "Pee-ech". Those little dots over the E means the E is pronounces separately. One of his sons took over as manager for VW in the 90s and was responsible for the scandal surrounding faked co2 emission test values.
The russians captured both Maus protoypes, only that one of them was broken and the other one only had a mock up turret. so they removed the turret from the broken Maus and put it on the one with the fake turret for testing

[denmark]

You make some of the best science related content on YouTube in my opinion. Well researched, awesome topics and great presentation. The only problem (when finished binging): i want more!

[gringostarr]

Good to see you back on work Paul! Hopefully you doing much better now! Have been a keen fan of your content for many years. Keep up the great work. Always a gem to see new video from you and now therr has been a bunch! Candy day! Greetings from Finland.

[onogrirwin]

That's one hell of a barn find...

[MercSLRFan]

This was amazing, thanks for making this

[PeterKreft]

Nope, Germany did not use Diesel engines in WW2 tanks, mainly for supply reasons. The Tiger used a 12cyl. Maybach engine.

[georgenaidoo]

Thank you for making this video, I appreciate your version of the information, I would love more of these.

[.Carrera]

Ferdinand Porsche did what good musicians also do- "pinch" good ideas from other artists as John Lennon put it so he's in good company. I think the real legacy was that the principle of a rear mounted flat air cooled engine, torsion bar independent suspension, light weight, durable, user serviceable, practical, and high quality automobile built by a pool of skilled craftsmen had a incredible run. The air cooled beetle was produced until 2003 of course and the 356 when refined and developed into the original 901/911 under his son had an incredible 25 year run- incredible for a sports car while adhering to the blueprint established in the 1930's.