On this day, Porsche “No. 1” was built

To be exact, the first Porsche was legally registered 68 years ago on June 8th, 1948.

It all started with an engineer named Ferdinand Porsche, who built an electric car in 1900 and then developed the VW Beetle in the 1930s.

That man had a son named Ferdinand “Ferry” Porsche. His son hand built a prototype car that would become Porsche’s first sports car, the 356 Roadster.

That man had a son named Ferdinand “Ferry” Porsche. His son hand built a prototype car that would become Porsche’s first sports car, the 356 Roadster.

Out of a small garage in Gmund, Austria in the span of one year, they built 52 cars. From this humble beginning, Porsche would relocate to Stuttgart, Germany where they would go on to build 10,000 cars in the span of 10 years.

There is one very interesting fact about the first Porsche prototype, Chassis: 356-001 wearing the license plate K 45-286. The production version of the 356 Roadster had a rear-engine design of the VW 1.3 liter flat four-cylinder engine. However the “No. 1” actually had a mid-engine mounting.

This small engine initially produced only 25hp but with some engineering brain-power, they were able to achieve an out-put of 40hp.

Due to it’s light weight of only 1,290 pounds, the prototype could reach an estimated speed of around 85mph.

Happy B-day Porsche.