File:3 Porsche 356 B (2413664967).jpg

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In Wikipedia

Professor Ferdinand Porsche initially started the company called "Dr. ing. h. c. F. Porsche GmbH" in 1931, with main offices at Königstrasse in the center of Stuttgart. The company offered motor vehicle development work and consulting, and did not initially build any cars under its own name. One of the first assignments the new company received was from the German government to design a car for the people, a "Volkswagen" in German. The first Porsche, the Porsche 64, was developed in 1939 using many components from the Volkswagen Beetle. The Beetle was first called Type 12 in 1931 then Porsche 60. The name was not used until 1967 by Porsche/VW. During World War II Volkswagen production turned to the military version of the Volkswagen Beetle, the Kübelwagen, 52,000 produced and saw action in all German fronts and Schwimmwagen, 14,000 produced. During a contract bid for a new tank Porsche lost to Henschel & Son who subsequently produced the Tiger I. Ferdinand Porsche was hurt by this, knowing Adolf Hitler personally. Porsche would assist in the designing of the Tiger tank series and the Elefant tank. After the war Ferdinand designs Beetle to the French as war reparations. Volkswagen factory fell inside the British occupied zone. Ferdinand lost ownership of Volkswagen and a British major, Ivan Hirst was put in charge. Ferdinand was not allowed at the reopening of the Volkswagen factory. December 15 the same year (1945) Ferdinand was arrested but was not tried for war crimes. During his 20 month imprisonment, Ferdinand Porsche's son, Ferry Porsche, decided to build his own car because he could not find an existing one that he would buy. The first models of what was to become the 356 were built in a small sawmill in Gmünd, Austria and had aluminum bodywork, hence the modern Porsche company was born. The prototype car was shown to German auto dealers, and when pre-orders reached a set threshold, production was begun. Many regard the 356 as the first Porsche simply because it was the first model sold by the fledgling company. Porsche commissioned Zuffenhausen-based company Reutter Carosseri, which had previously collaborated with Porsche on Volkswagen Beetle prototypes, to produce the 356's steel body. Porsche constructed an assembly plant across the street from Reutter Carosseri; that assembly plant is now known as Porschestrasse. The 356 was road certified in 1948. Not long afterwards, on January 30, 1951, Ferdinand Porsche died from complications following a stroke.