Most auto connoisseurs consider the Porsche 64 which is also sometimes known as the VW Aerocoupe, Type 64 and Type 64K10 as being the first automobile made by Porsche. It was manufactured mainly from parts from the Model 64 VW Beetle and that is where the model number comes from. The Porsche 64's flat-four engine produced fifty b.h.p. and gave the vehicle a top speed of 160 km/h. The body was designed by Porsche Burro after wind tunnel tests made for the Type 114, a V10 racer that never saw the light of day as a production car. Dr. Porsche planned to enter the roadster in the 1939 Berlin to Rome race event. The bodywork specialist company Reutter made three cars from shaped aluminum. Out of the three, one was totaled in the early years of World War II by a VW bureaucrat. The two cars that remained were used by the exclusively by the Porsche family. Towards the end of World War Two, they put one of the vehicles in storage and used the other one. American troops discovered the one put in storage in May 1945, cut the top of it off and took it joyriding for a few weeks until the engine went and it was junked. Farina restored the only remaining Porsche 64 in 1947, as it was owned and driven by Ferry Porsche. In 1949, the Austrian racer Otto Matte bought the car and raced it, winning the Alpine Rally in 1950 in it. Now nearly a hundred years after its founder started designing automobiles, Porsche is still popular, the result of offering a cure for a mid-life crisis similar to owning a Harley - Davidson motorcycle. Porsche's lineup now features four model lines: the incredibly sexy and popular Boxster, the enduring 911 models, the relatively new Cayenne SUV, and the stunningly opulent Carrera GT, and if you can't afford their cars, Porsche also offers watches, luggage, and tennis rackets bearing its name. The company is still controlled by descendants of the founding family and it has enlarged its area by offering consulting services to other industries not only on the automotive industry but in furniture, construction, and engineering as well. Form its early years of operating in the red, Porsche has evolved into a winner as one of the most profitable car makers on the planet while many other automakers are having to lay off workers, offer cash incentives, and strategize how to deal with the upcoming Chinese market. Porsche consistently releases startling new products and has quadrupled annual vehicle sales in less than ten years in spite of costs and the risks involved. The most recent additions of the Boxster and Cayenne are doing very well and continue to be examples of the popularity of Porsche as the company continues to move forward. |
