Automotive history is littered with the corpses of failed car companies.

Recently another brand took its first step on the ladder to the big garage in the sky when GM announced the end of Pontiac. The company, named after an Indian chief, joins hundreds of others in a busy, cloud-based multi-dealership. There are other companies that have survived, against the odds. But there are few that have survived with a continuous record of manufacturing a car that is a direct descendant of the company's first automobile. And that car is instantly recognisable.

 

Chrysler has one of the few high-profile vehicles that can be easily identified with its original predecessor. I am talking here of the Jeep Wrangler that traces its forbears to the original CJ Jeep, produced by John Willys immediately after WW2. The Jeep over the years has wandered off-course through various owners including Kaiser, American Motors (AMC) and since 1987 Chrysler.

It has been kept alive simply because the 'Jeep' name and badge retains currency with buyers. Plenty of names have lost buyer appeal and it is those that have disappeared into the cumulus. At the pinnacle of cars that have kept faith to their original design to this day, there is one stand-out. Porsche. Today's Porsche 911, using no stretch of the imagination, is a direct descendant of the original Porsche 356, the first production car to carry the Porsche name. And, it's not only the skin that bears the similarity.

 

Consider this for a moment.

The year 1948 was also when GM Holden released its first car, the 48-215 or FX. Place an FX next to a Commodore and look for similarities.

In 60 years car design has evolved beyond, in most cases, any recognition.

Somehow, the Porsche shape has stood the test of time. So has it's engineering. It speaks volumes for the designers and engineers of the 356. Not bad for a bloke called Dr Ferdinand Porsche whose formal engineering education was limited to sneaking into night classes at a technical university and son Ferry who helped design the car in his father's absence.

The 356 was no overnight success. It was the culmination of years of desire on the part of Ferdinand to manufacture a small car. On the way through he amassed an amazing CV. This was his apprenticeship.

Born in 1875, in 1900, he produced his first car. The Lohner-Porsche electric powered car that made its debut at the Paris World Fair.

He then used internal combustion engines as power plants and by 1905 won the Poetting Prize as Austria's outstanding automotive engineer.

Success followed after he was recruited to Austro-Daimler in 1906 as chief designer. Perhaps his most famous Austro-Daimler appeared in 1910, the 85 hp aero dynamic car for the Prince Henry Trial. The car took out the top three places. For the next few years Austro-Daimler churned out vehicles for the German war effort and by 1916 Ferdinand was appointed as the firm's managing director.

At age 41 he was given an honorary doctorate by Vienna Technical College, the same institution where he had sneaked into night classes.

The Doctorate sat well in front of his name. He left Astro-Daimler in 1923 after a disagreement on the future of the company. He was, as ever, keen on the development of a small car.

He then went to Daimler as Technical Director and was heavily involved in the construction of a series of racing machines including, after the merger of Daimler and Benz, a 6.2 litre K, 6.8 litre S and then 7 litre SS, SSK and SSKL models that dominated racing between 1928-1930.

Still, he pursued his dream of a small car, but it was at that time of no interest to Daimler-Benz. The depression hit and Dr Porsche found himself unemployed.

In 1931 he launched his consulting firm and on the staff were his own son Ferry and his son in law, Anton Piech.

Ferry was tarred with the same love of things mechanical as his father and was a gifted student.

For the family the 1930s were a roller-coaster of highs and lows. As a company they were successful, but this was a time of political upheaval and WW2 destroyed the European economy. Dr Porsche still harboured his dream of a small car and took a loan against his life insurance to fund development of a ground-up design.

Three prototypes were built, cars that were the genesis of the Volkswagen beetle. In June 1934 the Third Reich signed a contract for Porsche to build three prototypes and by December 1936 they were finished. For Volkswagen the rest is history.

But, this story is integral to Porsche 356.

Mention must also be made of another Porsche project. There was a new Grand Prix Formula announced in the 1930s and Porsche was involved. Auto Union, now Audi, applied and lost. They re-applied and took Dr Porsche to meet with Hitler and the meeting was a success. Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union then fought out Gran Prix racing in what has become known as the

'War of the Silver Arrows' These were monsters. V-16 engines placed ahead of the rear transaxle, a tube chassis and aluminium body. Then came the fearsome P-Wagens: six litre engines in cars that could lay rubber at 160 kilometres an hour. With the end of the war came further trouble. While Ferry Porsche was anti-Nazi, his father was totally immersed in engineering was at best a victim of naivity. He would design anything if given a budget, and that included war vehicles. On a trip to France Dr Porsche, his son Ferry and son-in-law Anton were arrested as war criminals.

Ferry was soon released, but the others were thrown in jail. Ironically, they were in France as guests on a trip designed to woo the company into designing a Volkswagen that was 'more French.' Ferry returned home to the family company and was commissioned to design a Gran Prix car, the Type 360 Cristalia, a 1.5 litre supercharged car, which was like a small version of the Auto Union cars. He also had the company work on a small car. It was this auto that would carry the first Porsche name: the Type 356. It followed Porsche design tradition and had the engine placed ahead of the rear transaxle, using modified Volkswagen components.

Using the money from the Cristalia commission Ferry Porsche paid for the release of his father and brother-in-law - they never faced court - and they returned to the family business.

Dr Porsche approved of both vehicles undertaken in his absence, the Cristalia and the Porsche small car. Not just that, but he fully supported the engineering designs. In late 1947 a Zurich car retailer ordered five of these cars and the Porsche Type 356 was in production, albeit built by hand.