Ingat Ferdinand Porsche, ingatan kita akan tidak lepas dengan sejarah VW berikut VW kodoknya, penggerak 4x4, teknologi hybrid dan mobil sport yg sampai sekarang masih dianggap terbaik bersama dengan Ferrari.
Link di bawah ini, diambil dari :
1. http://www.answers.com/topic/ferdinand-porsche
2. http://www.autonews.com/files/euroauto/ ... orsche.htm
3. http://www.sinarharapan.co.id/feature/o ... /oto2.html
Kalau ada yang menambahi silakan, sorry kalau cuma gado-gado dan asal comot sana sini
Ferdinand Porsche
Ferdinand Porsche (September 3, 1875 - January 30, 1951) was an Austrian automotive engineer, Porsche was born to German-speaking family in Vratislavice, Austria-Hungary (now in the Czech Republic), who developed the original Volkswagen and a prototype of the Tiger I tank. Dr. Porsche's son was Ferry Porsche, the eponym for the Porsche automobile, based on the Volkswagen design. The name Porsche is pronounced with an audible "e" -- "PORSH-uh", not "PORSH".
Porsche showed a fine mechanical aptitude while being young. He got a recommendation for a job at Bela Egger in Vienna at the age of 18. After work, he sneaked into university classes; he never received any more formal engineering education than this.
After working for Bela Egger for five years, Porsche entered the automobile industry, joining the carriage factory Jakob Lohner & Co., which began the construction of automobiles in 1896 under Ludwig Lohner in Floridsdorf (today Vienna). From 1898, their first design, the "System Lohner-Porsche" was a carriage run by an internal combustion engine powering wheel-mounted electric motors. They presented the car on the 1900 World Exhibition in Paris. The up to 56 km/h (35 mph) fast carriage won several Austrian speed records, and stronger combustion motors from Daimler and Panhard provided enough power to win additional speed records. In 1905, Porsche won the Poetting prize as Austria's outstanding automotive engineer.
In 1902, he was called up for military service. He worked as a chaffeur to Archduke Ferdinand, the crown prince of Austria whose assassination sparked off the I World War.
In 1906, Austro-Daimler recruited Porsche as their chief designer. Porsche's most famous Austro-Daimler was designed for the Prince Henry Trial of 1910. Examples of this streamlined, 85 horsepower (63 kW) car won the first three places, and the car is still better known by the nickname "Prince Henry" than by its name "Modell 27/80".
Austro-Daimler's main business was war material: trucks, motorized cannons, and motors for aircrafts. Porsche became managing director in 1916 and received the honorary doctorate degree, "Dr. techn h.c." from Vienna Technical University in 1917. Porsche successfully continued to construct racing cars, winning 43 out of 53 races with his 1922 design. In 1923, Porsche left Austro-Daimler after differences about the future directions of their cars.
Only a few months later he got a new job as Daimler's Technical Director in Stuttgart, a center of automotive industry. He received another honorary doctorate from the Stuttgart Technical University for his work for Daimler. He constructed more very successful racing cars, dominating racing in the 1920s. His idea of a small, light-weight Daimler-Benz car was not much liked by Daimler's board. He left in 1929 for Steyr, but the Great Depression made Steyr collapse and Porsche was unemployed.
In April 1931 Porsche founded his consulting firm, Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung, Konstruktionen und Beratungen für Motoren und Fahrzeugbau, in Stuttgart, where he returned. Several people he had worked with before joined him:
• Karl Rabe, chief engineer
• Erwin Komenda, body design
• Karl Fröhlich, transmissions
• Josef Kales, motors
• Josef Zahradnik, steering and suspensions
• Franz Xaver Reimspiess and Josef Mickl, aerodynamics
• Adolf Rosenberger, business manager
• Anton Piëch, lawyer, Ferdinand Porsche's son-in-law and later father of Ferdinand Piëch (chairman of Volkswagen 1993-2002)
• Ferry Porsche, his son
Their first project was the construction of a middle class car for Wanderer. Others followed. Porsche decided to start a design of his own for a new, small car. He financed the project with a loan on his life insurance. Zündapp became a sponsor of the project, but lost interest after their success with motorcycles. NSU took over, but also lost interest due to the high tooling costs. No one was interested in the project until Adolf Hitler decided that every German should own either a car or a tractor. In June 1934, Porsche got a contract to build three prototypes based on his design. The three cars were completed in Winter 1936. Daimler-Benz was made to build another 30 prototypes. A new city, "Autostadt", was founded for the factory. The city is named Wolfsburg today and is still the seat of Volkswagen.
At about the same time, Porsche designed a racing car for Auto Union to compete with Daimler's Silver Arrows. The car became known by the name P-Wagen and was both innovative and successful.
Ferdinand Porsche became involved in the construction of the factory in Wolfsburg. He handed over the racing projects to his son, Ferry. Ferdinand accepted further projects from the Third Reich, including the construction of tanks. Those projects also involved forced labor, e.g. in the construction of the Volkswagen factory.
After the war, in November 1945, Porsche was asked by the French to continue the design of the Volkswagen in France and to move the factory equipment to France as part of the war reparations. Differences within the French government and rejection by the French automotive industry stopped this project before it had begun. Ferdinand Porsche, Anton Piëch, and Ferry Porsche were arrested as war criminals on December 15. Ferry was set free, but the other two went to prison in Dijon for 20 months, without a trial.
While Ferdinand was in captivity, Ferry tried to keep the company in business. A contract with Piero Dusio was concluded for a Grand Prix racing car, the Type 360 Cisitalia. They also repaired cars, water pumps or winches. They also started the design of a new model, the Porsche 356, the first to have the name Porsche. The company still resided in Gmünd in Austria, where they were evacuated to during the allied bombings of Stuttgart. The company started building the Porsche 356 in the old saw mill in Gmünd and 49 were built, entirely by hand.
Porsche was contracted by Volkswagen for additional consulting and received a royalty on every Volkswagen built. Porsche, now having a good financial situation, returned to Stuttgart in 1949. There the Porsche 356 was built with a steel body instead of the aluminium one that was used in Gmünd. More than 78,000 Porsche 356's were built in 17 years.
In November 1950 Porsche visited the Wolfsburg Volkswagen factory for the first time after the war. It was already producing the VW Beetle in large amounts at that time. Some weeks later, Porsche had a stroke. He never recovered completely from the stroke and died on January 30, 1951.
In 1996, he was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame.
External link
• Ferdinand Porsche, from Auto History Online (http://www.autohistory.org/feature_6.html)
• Hybrid-Vehicle.org: The Lohner-Porshe (http://www.hybrid-vehicle.org).
• Hybrid-Vehicle.org: The Landwehr and The C-train (http://www.hybrid-vehicle.org/hybrid-ve ... dwehr.html)
Great engine designer who developed the people's car
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FERDINAND PORSCHE
Consulting engineer
Sept. 3, 1875-Jan. 30, 1952
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wim Oude Weernink
Automotive News Europe
Ferdinand Porsche could always bring a good idea to the table, no matter who he worked for. He pioneered electric cars, airplane engines, front-wheel drive, hybrid cars, and aerodynamic shapes for other people. When he finally went out on his own, he developed both race cars and the people's car: the Volkswagen.
Porsche was born in the Bohemian village Maffersdorf, now part of the Czech Republic. He took evening classes and was fascinated by the possibilities of electricity. His first job was in Vienna at Bela-Egger, which became part of ABB. His first contribution to the automotive world was in 1900, when he designed an electric carriage for the Austrian coachbuilder Lohner.
With the motors integrated in the front-wheel hubs, this was one of the first front-wheel-driven cars. He developed this idea into a four-wheel-driven version, and later came up with a generator powered by a gasoline engine to replace the heavy batteries, making it one of the world's first hybrid power systems.
His 1910 "Prince Henry" model, created for the Austro-Daimler company, featured an advanced single-overhead camshaft engine with novel hemispherical combustion chambers. The car's bodywork was shaped like a tulip, and with a V-shaped radiator this resulted in a low frontal area and aerodynamic form.
During World War One he constructed one of the most efficient airplane engines for Austro-Daimler, and in 1923 he moved to Stuttgart and went to work for Daimler Motoren Gesellshaft.
At Daimler, he worked on sporty, race-winning Mercedes models with supercharged, high-performance engines made of cast aluminum with steel cylinder liners, another technical innovation. The 1928 Mercedes 7.1-liter SSK with 225hp was the most powerful sports car of the time.
But Daimler had merged with Benz in 1926, and Porsche couldn't cope with the new company culture. In 1930 he decided to go independent with his famous Konstruktionsburo, an activity which remains as the highly successful automotive consultancy of Porsche today.
His versatility blossomed. He designed alloy engines for Wanderer, one of Auto Union's brands. He worked on engines for aircraft and agricultural tractors.
In the early part of the decade he was working on revolutionary mid-engined Grand Prix cars for Auto Union on one hand, and on the other preparing simple yet mature studies for an affordable people's car. The Auto Union cars beat Mercedes-Benz only sometimes, but the people's car evolved into the world's most successful mass-produced model, the Volkswagen.
The impulsive and sometimes hot-tempered Ferdinand Porsche always devoted himself to automobiles. While war approached, his Konstruktionsburo was laying down design principles for an aerodynamic coupe based on the early Volkswagen design.
Porsche survived the Nazi era, but after the war he was arrested and charged with collaboration. In 1947 he was freed, and one year later, he witnessed the birth of the Porsche sports car and the Porsche sports car company, founded by his son. Ferdinand Porsche died on January 30, 1952, from the effects of a stroke he had suffered earlier.
Volkswagen, Kendaraan Terlaris di Dunia
JAKARTA – Kini VW telah berumur 70 tahun lebih. Pendirinya, Ferdinand Porsche, ketika itu memiliki mimpi indah untuk membuat satu kendaraan murah dan terjangkau semua golongan masyarakat. Tahun 1930, Porsche mendirikan perusahaan desain otomotif dengan nama Porsche Buro.
Pada tahun 1931, Zundapp, perusahaan mobil Jerman, meminta Porsche untuk mendesain kendaraan. Desain itu berupa sedan dua pintu yang konsepnya mirip Beetle.
Dua tahun kemudian (1933), Porsche merancang mobil untuk NSU yang juga mirip Beetle. Tapi sayangnya, kedua proyek ini hanya sebatas prototipe saja. Volkswagen baru naik daun ketika tahun 1933 saat Adolf Hitler berkuasa dan meminta Porsche untuk membuat mobil rakyat.
Sejak Perang Dunia I usai, Jerman mengalami kekalahan. Perekonomian negara ini menjadi kacau, terjadi pengangguran besar-besaran, dan Hitler menjadikannya sebagai isu untuk mencapai puncak kekuasaan.
Untuk mengatasi pengangguran, Hitler membuka lapangan pekerjaan dengan membuat jalan-jalan baru. Untuk mengisi jalanan tersebut, Hitler butuh kendaraan murah. Porsche lantas diberi tugas membuat mobil murah pada April 1934. Inilah awal kelahiran Volkswagen yang desainnya harus diselesaikan dalam 10 bulan.
Kriteria yang diberikan Hitler, Porsche harus membuat mobil yang mampu mengangkut lima orang (dua dewasa di depan dan tiga anak di belakang), kecepatannya mencapai 62 mph, pemakaian bahan bakar 33 galon per mil, dan harganya sekitar 1.000 mark.
Tak sulit bagi Porsche untuk mewujudkannya karena dia memiliki desain dari proyek sebelumnya yang belum sempat terwujud. Yang membuatnya sedikit bingung, menentukan jenis mesin yang dipakai.
Tapi berkat usulan seorang insinyur Austria yang belum bekerja setahun di Porsche, persoalan terpecahkan dengan memasang mesin boxer 4 silinder, 4 langkah, dan memakai pendingin udara.
Uji coba pada prototipe pertama dilakukan pada 1937. Setahun kemudian (1938) sebanyak 30 prototipe diselesaikan. Kesuksesan ini membuat Porsche kecewa ketika Hitler mengganti nama mobil menjadi KdF Wagen yang berarti Strengh of Joy yang agak berbau Nazi. Porsche padahal bukan anggota partai itu sebab dia pun tak mendukung propaganda Hitler dalam kampanye iklan mobil itu.
Sebagai seorang profesional, Porsche lebih memilih meneruskan cita-citanya tanpa mau dicampuri urusan politik. Tahun 1939, pabrik VW dibangun di Wolfsburg yang belakangan menjadi cikal bakal pabrik mobil terbesar. Tahun 1940, KdF Wagen secara resmi ditampilkan pada Berlin Auto Show.
Memasuki 1950-an, VW menambah varian produknya dengan meluncurkan Transporter vans dan Microbuses. Saat itu, populasi Beetle telah mencapai 100.000 unit.
Demam VW pun berlanjut di mana-mana. Beetle menjadi fenomenal. Hingga 1972, jumlah total produksinya mencapai 15.007.034 unit. (tot)