The Volkswagen Beetle was a “people’s car” so needed to be cheap and reliable so the non radical rear wheel drive rear engine was an ideal solution. However the Porsche 911 (whichs looks like a squashed Beetle,) is a high performance car that needed better weight distribution than that. So why did Dr Porsche decide to design the 911 like so. I know he had something to do with the Volkswagen Beetle, has that anything to do with it?
The 911’s a pretty good design–low center of gravity, lots of weight on the drive wheels…
Are you sure you’re thinking of the Porsche 911? I think the Porsche 356 had a lot more in common with the VW than the 911 did. Many of the components were the same. The 356 was produced (I think) from 1950 to 1965. The 911 was from 1964 to the present, but today’s model has little in common with the original 911.
“The 911’s a pretty good design–low center of gravity, lots of weight on the drive wheels…”
Yup, right over the rear end so you need enough rubber on the rear wheels to supply a french brothel for a year.
911 or not though was Dr. Porsche influenced at all by the design of the Beetle? I’m sure he was involved in its design, he was to be tried or executed for it after WWII.
IIRC, the first Porsche’s were simply heavily modified Beatles. Akin to the Fox-body Mustangs, I guess. I saw a poster once that showed the Beetle, the first 911, then every incarnation of the 911 until modern day. It seemed to be a clear evolution.
–Tim
Homer is correct–there is a clear evolutionary progression from Type I (Beetle) to even the most recent 911s. Even more incredibly (for the non-VW enlightened) is that the internal workings–the layout and design of the engine and suspension especially–in a 911 and a Beetle are only different in degree, not in kind.
To clear up a few misconceptions in other posts:
Dr. Ferdinand Porsche (1875-1951) was imprisoned (for a time, in an actual dungeon) from late 1945 until August 1947 by the French government, obstensibly for making use of slave labor at one or some of his factories. The whole case was questionable, especially since the people making the most noise about ‘bringing him to justice’ were involved in Peugeot’s plan make a ‘people’s car’ for Europe.
The Beetle was the last production car Dr. Porsche himself actually designed. The 356 was largely designed by his son, Ferry, the 911 mostly by Ferry’s son, ‘Butzi’.
It must be a peculiar American bit of reasoning to think that ‘engines are best in the front’. A look at any Formula 1- or LeMans-style racing car shows quite the opposite. Really fast, great handling cars probably need to be either mid- or rear-engined.
I have heard that Porsche and Hitler worked together in car development. Any truth to that?
So is Oasis.
Porsche used the VW as a base because he did not have the resources to build an entirely new car, and he knew exactly how to improve the VW. A lot of the design elements (like air cooled engine) were dictated by the Nazi government Air cooled engines were considered more reliable than water cooled in a cold environment where most people did not have a garage.
Besides, the VW had better pick up than a Panzerkampfwagen Tiger tank. (But the Tiger tank could park any place they damn well wanted).