The Poor Son Of A Plumber Who Created Porsche

[Music] everyone instantly recognizes the name porsche as the builder of fast luxury cars that keeps pushing the limits of performance no matter what but how many people know about the origins of the company and how closely intertwined is it with volkswagen your chance to find out dr ferdinand porsche a design engineer was born in muffersdorf as the third of five children the settlement is known as bratislava which has been part of chechia following the transfer of sovereignty after world war one his father anton porsche was a humble proprietor of a humble plumbing workshop where he was born on september 3rd 1875. ferdinand was expected as was customary in german austrian society to take over the family business with his brothers but he had other interests he was already experimenting with electricity at the age of 14 which was all the rage during the latter part of the 19th century his father on the other hand was not impressed and did not approve on the contrary he tried for a long time to stop his son from engaging in such nonsense as a result ferdinand established his own secret workshop in his parents home allowing him to explore freely he would have his way in the end as he went to the state trade school in reichenberg despite being forced to do a plumbing apprenticeship in 1893 he started working for the electrical firm bella edgarenko in vienna he was promoted from a mere electrician to the test center manager within a few years due to his talent and technical understanding his life began to pan out from that moment onwards he created an electric wheel hub motor in 1897 in the same year ferdinand porsche began working in the newly founded electric car department at kuk hofbargen fabrique jakob lona and cove vienna the year 1897 was a watershed moment for porsche his work would culminate in the lona porsche it was a non-transmission vehicle driven by a porsche wheelhub engine that was hailed as a game changer at the paris world trade fair he was not just an engineer though and he was looking for new unforeseen ways of testing his cars that's where he settled on racing yes ferdinand porsche also used racing to successfully test his innovations in 1900 for example he won the simmering circuit outside vienna he was also in the racing team for archduke franz ferdinand as a driver in 1902 after eight years at lona ferdinand porsche later joined daimler in novena naustad as technical manager in 1906 he continued racing as he won the prince heinrich race which was popular at the time in 1910 driving a daimler automobile that he also developed himself it was an annual long distance test for touring automobiles with different routes each year it was 1 495 kilometers long that year and it ran from berlin to bad hamburg passing through martinberg brushfig castle wurzburg nuremberg stuttgart strasbourg and trier on the track ferdinand porsche's unique aerodynamic tulip shaped automobile reached top speeds of up to 140 kilometers per hour he became general manager austro daimler in 1917 and not too long after sasha a compact four-cylinder racing automobile with a 1.1 litre displacement the sasha won first and second positions in its category of the tiger florio event in sicily on its debut in 1922. gazeta delos sport an italian publication commented on its success as follows up until very recently no one would have dreamed it possible to achieve such top speeds and durability with a four-cylinder engine belonging to the category of smallest cars ever perhaps driven by sasha's success he would move to daimler motoren gelshaft in stuttgart as a technical manager and member of the executive board the very next year this was the main branch of daimler in germany and he was immediately put to work taking charge of improving the mercedes compressor automobile mercedes-benz ss and ssk compressor designs became synonymous with sportiness and racing success again he raced it himself and in this car he won the targa florio race for the first time in 1924 ferdinand porsche was awarded the honorary title of doctor by the stuttgart institute of technology after a brief start at steya burke ag the famed firearms maker he finally started his own enterprise in 1931. on april 25 1931 ferdinand porsche established his own independent design office which was registered in the commercial register as porsche design dr ing h c f porsche gmbh from strzon and berting for motorin and farzuga designing engineering and consultation for engines and vehicles the torsion bar suspension was patented on august 10 1931 which according to a well-known expert journalist would have been enough to immortalize the porsche name in the car industry auto union later commissioned porsche to construct a 16-cylinder compressor grand prix racing car for the new 750 kilo rules in 1932 the auto union porsche won 32 of the 64 races with drivers like han stuk and bernd rosemayer setting numerous world records soon after this he looked back at sasha and thought about a small car for everyday use he intended to design a high quality car that could be used on a daily basis and wasn't merely a smaller version of existing saloons the porsche design office and the reichsenward the automobile industry which is the umbrella organization for the german automotive industry signed a contract on june 24 1934 that was the time volkswagen translated people's automobile in 1938 the foundation stone for the volkswagen plant was placed ferdinand porsche was one of volkswagen gmbh's general managers during this time and the second world war broke out just as production was about to begin with only a few public use examples being created for official use the volkswagen was also used to construct the first all-terrain or amphibious vehicle nonetheless the volkswagen was recognised for being the achievement it would soon become clear to others around the world ferdinand porsche was given the honorary title of professor in 1940 during the war the construction office worked on projects including the mouse heavy tank and an alternative version of the tiger tank that was not adopted for official use as well as wind generators and the volks strata ferdinand porsche was apprehended by the french at the end of 1945 and held in various prisons for 22 months because of his indirect participation in arming the german war machine throughout the war he was targeted after failing to find any evidence of him being related to war crimes of the holocaust in particular he was let go upon his return he studied the design of the racing car cesatalia which was built under his son ferry's supervision he was proud of his son's creation and he allegedly stated i would have built it exactly the same right down to the last screw dr ferdinand porsche ultimately died of natural causes in stuttgart in 1951 at the age of 75. it may be a surprise to some to know that porsche as we know it was established after his death but that's how it went it was ferry porsche that built the first porsche branded car along with his sister louise pische who married anton pish a top volkswagen executive this car was the famous porsche 356 in comund austria the earliest models of what would become the 356 were made in a small sawmill the prototype car was displayed to german auto dealers and when pre-orders reached a certain level the reformed porsche construction ge symbol began manufacturing with an aluminium body the 356 is widely regarded as the first porsche because it was the company's first model to be sold because parts were in short supply in postwar germany the 356 car utilized pieces from the volkswagen beetle notably the engine case from the internal combustion engine transmission and various suspension components while in production the 356 however went through multiple evolutionary stages a b and c with most volkswagen sourced parts being replaced with porsche made parts nonetheless it was deemed a modest success in 1964 the firm debuted the porsche 911 a name that would immortalize porsche as the purveyor of excellence in pure driving performance following a degree of decent success in motor racing with several models included the 550 spyder which would also find fame as james dean's car it was another rear-engined air-cooled sports automobile similar to the 356 but with a six-cylinder boxer engine ferdinand alexander porsche very portious elder sun led the team that designed the body shell with countless motorsports victories the 911's legendary status is easy to understand yet it was fairy porsche who best summed up the car the 911 is the only car you could drive on an african safari or at le mans to the theater or through new york city traffic indeed the 911 only became a better driving machine over the years eventually sporting the boxster and cayman as worthy supporting models porsche has been tackling challenges head-on in its modern history even as recently as 2021 porsche boosted its deliveries in all of its global sales locations in the united states growth was notably significant with 22 more vehicles shipped than the previous year in total 70 025 clients in the united states purchased a model from the vast product line porsche delivered 84 657 cars in america a 22 increase china remains the sports car manufacturer's largest single market with a strong overall performance in 2021 up 8 from an already record-breaking year in 2020 the home market of germany has also seen an increase in demand with 28 565 vehicles supplied indicating a 9 increase in europe 86 160 vehicles were delivered to clients which is seven percent more than in 2020 ferdinand porsche's focus on doing the best with the newest technologies available still clearly run deep in the company as porsche was one of the few european performance brands not afraid of a challenge and swore to make an ev that could compete directly with the tesla model s that effort culminated in the porsche taycan a diverse offering of venerable 911 models such as the cayman kn suv the panamera sedan the taican ev and with feet still deep in sports the company continues to be celebrated for making high quality high performance models that are loved by all seventy percent of porsches ever built are still on the road signifying the deep connections porsche owners build with their cars ferdinand porsche would have been proud have you ever heard of ferdinand porsche are there any other details you would like added to this video share in the comments and if you'd like to see more inspiring business videos then make sure to check out our channel

Channel: Business Stories

Views: 94,688

Keywords: Business, Business Stories, Ferdinand Porsche story, Ferdinand Porsche history, Ferdinand Porsche documentary, Ferdinand Porsche, porsche founder, porsche ceo, porsche inventor, Porsche 911, porsche brand history, porsche company history, porsche story, porsche brand story, porsche history, porsche documentary

Id: scLYZSG-VCY

Length: 10min 29sec (629 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 25 2022