Ferry Porsche

Ferdinand Anton Ernst Porsche (19 September 1909 – 27 March 1998), mainly known as Ferry Porsche, was an Austrian-German technical automobile designer and automaker-entrepreneur.

He operated Porsche AG in Stuttgart, Germany.

His father, Ferdinand Porsche Sr. was also a renowned automobile engineer and founder of Volkswagen and Porsche.

His nephew, Ferdinand Piëch, was the longtime chairman of Volkswagen Group, and his son, Ferdinand Alexander Porsche, was involved in the design of the 911.

Ferry Porsche's life was intimately connected with that of his father, Ferdinand Porsche Sr., who began sharing his knowledge of mechanical engineering already in his childhood.

For example, on Christmas Eve of 1920, Ferry Porsche was originally misled by his parents, who first presented him with a miniature coach pulled by a goat, while his real present was a petrol-driven miniature car with a four-stroke, two-cylinder engine specially designed by his father.

Ferry Porsche learned to drive when he was only 10 years old.

At age 12 he drove a real race car, the Austro-Daimler Sascha, which had just won its class at Targa Florio, Sicily, in 1922.

Ferry Porsche attended school at Wiener Neustadt and Stuttgart, concentrating on mathematics.

In 1923, the family moved to Stuttgart, due to senior Ferdinand Porsche's unrest about the squandering financial destiny of Austro-Daimler.

He joined the Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft at Stuttgart-Untertürkheim (where the design department from the whole company was concentrated).

Soon, he achieved the position of technical director.

Meanwhile, Ferry Porsche received consent from the company to stay at the plant together with his father because of his increasing interest in design issues.

The local town authorities endorsed a special permission for him to drive, even at 16 years of age.

Ferdinand Porsche senior enjoyed success particularly with his racing cars which excelled at the race tracks.

His personal preference for designing compact cars differed with the current policies of (now merged) Daimler-Benz, who were in favor of more luxurious Mercedes-Benz models.

At the same time, after finishing school, Ferry Porsche was residing at Stuttgart where he began working for Bosch Company in 1928; this was to add depth to his interest in automobile engineering.

So, in 1929, Daimler-Benz began to question Porsche's work seriously and halted it suddenly.

He worked temporarily as the technical director of Steyr AG in Austria; nonetheless, he soon decided to open a consulting office of automobile design, again at Stuttgart.

In 1930, he was taking additional lessons in physics and engineering, however he never formally enrolled in any university.

By the 1930s, Stuttgart had already established itself as a center for the German automobile industry.

It was thus an ideal location for the new Porsche design company.

With his father he opened a bureau of automobile design, in Stuttgart in 1931.

The Volkswagen Beetle was designed by Ferdinand Porsche Sr. and a team of engineers, including Ferry Porsche.

After World War II, while his father remained imprisoned in France being accused of war crimes, Ferry Porsche ran their company.

Aided by the postwar Volkswagen enterprise, he created the first cars that were uniquely associated with the company.

Despite the political-economical adversities of the postwar years, the company manufactured automobiles and, eventually, became a major sports car manufacturer.

Ferdinand Porsche Sr. was chief designer at Austro-Daimler in Austria.

His designs were focused on compact street cars and race cars.

Austro-Daimler was so strongly tied to the local royalty that the Austrian double-headed eagle became the trademark of the company.

The day Ferry Porsche was born, his father was competing with one of his race cars (called the Maja) at Semmering, finishing first in his class.

He found out about his son's birth by telegram.

Ferry Porsche's mother was Aloisia Johanna Kaes.

He had an older sister, Louise Piëch, who was five years his senior.

He was baptized Ferdinand Anton Ernst Porsche, with the name Ferdinand after his father, the name Anton after his grandfather, and the name Ernst after his uncle on his mother's side.

Early in his childhood he picked up the nickname "Ferry" rather than the usual nickname "Ferdy", as Ferdy reminded his parents too much of a typical coachman nickname — a profession that, coincidentally, was made obsolete by the family's work.

During the following years, the family moved around a lot.

He and his father spent much time together in workshops where he began early to learn about mechanical engineering.

They also used to tour around Europe and the United States of America, where they raced the cars they designed.

Ferry remarked later, "...cars were my greatest passion from the very beginning.".