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notable automobiles and ultimately was rewarded with the position of chief engineer in 1923. The company was known by then as Daimler-Benz, and one of Dr. Porsche’s Mercedes designs brought fame to the factory when it won the Targa Florio race in 1924. Later that decade, Porsche designed some of the most incredible automobiles ever created—the Mercedes-Benz S series. Coveted by gentlemen and sportsmen seeking speed and comfort, the great S, SS, and SSK models graced roads on both sides of the Atlantic. They were particularly popular with Hollywood celebrities, such as Zeppo Marx, who owned one of the thirty-one rare, supercharged SSK roadsters that were produced. But a breach between Porsche and the Daimler-Benz board of directors soon

developed. Porsche wanted to engineer a Mercedes-Benz for the common man, mass produced and a ! ordable. Then, as now, conscious of its image as a maker of prestigious transportation, Daimler-Benz turned the request down; Porsche, frustrated by the company’s conservatism, quit. “My father found that when he signed a contract with a firm, they could live another ten years on his designs, but he couldn’t,” said Ferry Porsche, the son and successor of Dr. Ferdinand, many years later.

Unfortunate associations: Adolf Hitler laying the foundation stone at the Volkswagen factory in 1938. Ferdinand Porsche is on the far right.

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Porsche: The Ultimate Speed Machine