7 Things You Didn't Know About Porsche
Porsche has been legendary almost since day one, with a reputation for strange little cars that were giant killers on the track. If you think you know everything about this German auto manufacturer, you may want to think again.
1. Left Hand Ignition
Before the advent of the push to start button, most Porsches traditionally had the ignition on the left side of the steering wheel. Legend has it that this feature was originated on the early 24 Hour of Le Mans racers. The Le Mans start requires drivers to run across the track, jump in the cockpit, start the car and go. Locating the ignition on the left side of a left hand drive car allowed drivers to put their Porsches in gear as they started them, when every second mattered. A competing rumor also claims the left hand key on left hand drive cars saved an extra foot of wiring, and Dr. Porsche was always very efficient when it came to weight savings, and simplicity. There is no clear explanation of this feature, but both of these claims would make sense.
2. The Ultimate Race Cars
When it comes to auto racing, Porsche is usually thought of in the same league as Ferrari, and McLaren, however, that isn't the case. When you open the record books, you realize that Porsche is on a much higher level historically than any other brand in the world. Porsche has over 30,000 race victories recorded worldwide over the years, which is more than any of the other brand. When it comes to racing, no one is in the same league as Porsche.
3. The Porsche Logo
If you're wondering why the prancing horse on the Porsche logo looks like the horse on the Ferrari logo, it is just a strange coincidence. During World War l, a pilot named Francesco Baracca was the best Italian ace in the war, and painted the prancing horse logo of his former cavalry regiment on his plane. After the war, Baracca's parents, the count and countess, suggested a young Enzo Ferrari use the logo on his race cars for luck, and it eventually became the Ferrari logo. Enzo overlaid the prancing horse on a shield, with a yellow background, which is the traditional color for the city of Modena. In the case of the Porsche logo, their prancing horse comes from the Stuttgart city coat of arms, because they used to be famous for their horses. Ferry Porsche sketched the logo for an American investor combining the shield with of Stuttgart's prancing horse, overlaid on the state of Wurttemberg's crest.
4. The First Porsche Ever
Porsche may have a reputation for being a macho car that only a real man can get the most out of, but the very first Porsche ever made belonged to a woman. Yes, they had already made some cars, but in 1948, the first car with the Porsche name and logo was purchased by Jolanda Tschudi in Switzerland, a white 1948 Porsche 356 with a brown interior. Switzerland and Sweden haven't been affected much by World War ll, and early Porsche sales were high there.
5. Porsche or Porsche-ahhh?
There has been quite the debate about the pronunciation of the name "Porsche." Even popular television shows like "Friends" emphasized this debate on one of the episodes. Is the name pronounced with one syllable and a silent "e"?" Or is it "Porsche-ahhh?" with an soft "a" atthe end? The legendary German brand is named after Dr. Ferdinand Porsche, and the family name is pronounced in two syllables, with an "ahhh!" at the end, which means the car make is pronounced like the founder's name, with a soft "a" at the end.
6. Porsche x Hitler
The only good thing to come out of Germany's ruthless Adolf Hitler lead years was Dr. Ferdinand Porsche's VW Beetle. Although Mercedes-Benz was the top car maker in Germany at the time, Hitler wanted a vehicle for the lower income Germans, so he had Porsche design a simple and durable "People's Car," which in German is Volkswagen. Dr. Ferdinand Porsche was later jailed after the death of Adolf Hitler for his collaboration with the Nazi leader. After the war Ferdinand would get royalty payments for every VW Type 1 Beetle made, which was part of how Porsche stayed in business in the early years.
7. The One Millionth Porsche
Lately, there has been a lot of talk of the one millionth Porsche 911, which rolled off the production line this year. But, if you include all of the other models, the one millionth Porsche was produced 21 years prior to that, on July 15, 1996. Porsche produced the one millionth unit since 1948 in its factory in Zuffenhausen, and it was also a 911. There were numerous debates about who would get this car, and it was ultimately donated to the German highway patrol, where the 993 served for 10 years.
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