Porsche Celebrates 70 years of Legendary Sports Cars

Porsche is celebrating this year’s anniversary with numerous activities around the world. In the United States, the exhibition “The Porsche Effect” will open February 3 at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. On June 9, Porsche will be inviting sports car fans to its “Sports Car Together Day” at many of its sites around the world, including the Porsche Experience Centers in Atlanta and L.A. The Rennsport Reunion VI vintage races and fan event in California from September 27-30 will also celebrate the anniversary.

‘We plan to uphold the standard of technical excellence set by Ferry Porsche well into the future. …We have what it takes to ensure that the Porsche brand continues to fascinate — even in another 70 years.’

The history of the Porsche brand begins in 1948. Yet the foundation of the sports car manufacturer is built upon the life’s work of his father, Professor Ferdinand Porsche — work which his son Ferry then continued. Ferdinand Porsche had already designed pioneering innovations for the automotive industry as early as the start of the last century. In 1900, he built an electric car with a wheel hub drive known as the Lohner-Porsche, a vehicle on which he would then base the world’s first all-wheel-drive passenger car. In the same year, he created a template for hybrid vehicles with the development of a mixed petrol-electric powertrain. In 1931, Ferdinand Porsche founded his own engineering office. The “Berlin-Rome Car” showcased in 1939 was the beginning of his idea for a sports car bearing the Porsche name, although this dream was only realized by his son Ferry in 1948 with the Type 356.