- Ferdinand Porsche (with 'tache) reassures Hitler that this will not turn into the GT3 RS.

beetle/911 clear-up

it's time for double history with mr may. bad luck everyone.

4y ago
305.2K

Since I wrote my piece on the 911 the other day, there have, inevitably, been several misinformed comments about the relationship between the 911 and the VW Beetle. So here, I hope, is some useful ammunition for future bar-room debates.

The 911 is not a glorified Beetle

If you want to be really smug here, you could point out that the first Beetles were, in fact, Porsches. Since the giant factory we would now know as VW at Wolfsburg was still under construction, the first few Beetles were built by Porsche in Stuttgart. I've driven one (number 6) and the original riveted plaque proclaiming as much is on the car. So you can stick that one in your rear compartment and go back to jokes about nuns having a spare engine in the boot/trunk.

Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Wagen.

Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Wagen.

Although Ferdinand Porsche did design the Beetle (Not Hitler)

It was at Hitler's behest, sure, because the comedy dictator wanted an affordable car for the German workers to go with the affordable radio, affordable fridge, affordable cruises, cheap holidays, free concerts, and community shouting. He is also believed to have said it should 'look like a Beetle', because he thought that would make it perfectly streamlined. Streamlining was da ting back then. But he gave the job of designing it to Porsche.

But that ferdinand Porsche had nothing to do with the 911

Because he died 12 years before the 911 appeared. The 911 was the work of his grandson, Ferdinand 'Butzi' Porsche. By then (1964), Porsche was a car manufacturer. Back in the 30s, when Ferdinand senior was working on the Beetle, Porsche was a consultancy and builder of the occasional prototype. It doesn't help that everyone in the Porsche family has been called Ferdinand. It's as if they thought of a name and then never bothered to change it. (In between Ferdinand senior and his grandson Ferdinand there was Ferdinand senior's son, Ferdinand).

The all-new 911, designed by Ferdinand, not Ferdinand.

The all-new 911, designed by Ferdinand, not Ferdinand.

They do seem suspiciously similar, though. The cars, that is

When Ferdinand Snr designed the Beetle, he was really producing a sort of 'greatest hits' of contemporary small-car thinking. There were many 'People's Car' projects on the go in the 20s and 30s, especially in Germany. Some of them (for Zundapp and NSU) had also been designed by Porsche. There were also cars by Hanomag (see the 2/10), Josef Ganz (see Standard Superior), Tatra (in Czechoslovakia), and others.

The thinking was that a small, air-cooled engine would be cheap to make, reliable, and dependable. By putting it in the back, the drive to the wheels would be simplified and the interior space improved - no transmission tunnel. Not having an engine at the front would allow better aerodynamics. An engine at the back would bring less noise and stink into the interior.

This was the accepted logic and was openly discussed in the German technical automotive press. Porsche acknowledged the influence of other cars in his design for the Beetle.

Aspects of a broadly similar approach to a 'people's car' were later adopted by Fiat in Italy, Renault in France, Rootes in Britain, Zaporozhet in the Soviet Union, and Mazda in Japan, to name just a few. But the problem for history is that this movement produced only two truly iconic cars, the Beetle and the Fiat 500. The rest are largely forgotten, giving the impression that a rear-engined car is a quirk. It isn't. It was once regarded as the way ahead.

Porsche don't exactly make 'people's cars'

No, they don't. Or do they? Post WWII, Porsche, now run by the second-generation Ferdinand 'Ferry' Porsche, wanted to make its own sports car. After some more prototyping, the result was the 356. Materials being in short supply at the time, and since there was a healthy relationship with the reborn VW factory (Ferdinand Snr had been chairman of the board before being booted out by the Allies), the early 356 used the engine basics and some suspension bits from the Beetle. It's happened since, with the 914/4 (known as the 'VW Porsche') using a beetle engine and the 924 using a VW group van engine.

When the time came to replace the ageing and underpowered 356, Porsche found itself still wedded to the air-cooled rear-engined thang. That was what they did, and to some extent it's what their devoted customers expected. And it was still only the early 60s, when the idea still had currency. Nobody thought the 911 would survive as long as it has - it was supposed to disappear in the mid-70s with the dawn of the front-engined 928. But it's still here, completely changed from the original but apparently an anachronism because of where the engine sits.

And therefore apparently related to the Beetle. But it isn't. Not really.

Handy pocket timeline thing

Ferdinand Porsche (1875-1951) oversaw the Beetle - launched 1938.

Ferry Porsche (1909-1998) oversaw the 356 - launched 1948.

Butzi Porsche (1935-2012) oversaw the 911 - launched 1963.

The largely forgotten man who links them together is Erwin Komenda (1904-1966) who, between 1931 and 1966, ran Porsche's bodyworks. He helped substantially with the design of all three cars mentioned above. So if it was anyone's fault, it was his.

Join In

Comments (187)

  • So the 911 isn't a beetle in the same way Victoria Beckham isn't Posh Spice

      4 years ago
  • Anything what james may writes is wierdly interesting, regardless of the topic, he really has a way of making you want for more. thank you james.

      4 years ago
  • Well James has ruined herbie for me. Thanks for that

      4 years ago
  • Yes. And well put. But will it silence Clarkson?

      4 years ago
  • Very enjoyable article tho james, cheered me up after being in hospital today x

      4 years ago
187