The man behind the machine is Ferdinand Porsche. He did not start out with Porsche
though, he started by making engines, cars and planes for other companies. He worked for
Austro Damlier, Mercedes Benz, Styer, Wanderer, Znndapp, NSU, Auto Union, Cisitalia, and
Volkswagen. (Chris Harvey, 11) In these designs of cars and planes he loved the most to build
cars that were fast. In 1930 Mr. Porsche had started his own independent company with his co-
workers, designing Volkswagens for the German army. (Chris Harvey, 11) They designed an
amphibious car called the Volkswagen Schwimmwagen that could reach speeds up to 95 miles
per hour. The Porsche company wanted to continue the design but Volkswagen did not see any
sort of a future with a car of such magnitude, so they discontinued them. At the time Porsche
didn't have enough capital to continue with the prototype that they made so they put the design
on hold for a while.
While they were waiting to make more capital they pulled up another car,
the Type 114. (Chris Harvey, 11) Finally they got Hitler to fund the project they put on hold. In
this car they used a Volkswagen chassis and the type 114 body design. They were scheduled to
race in the Berlin to Rome race which Hitler had intended for the car but war was declared and
the race never happened. Since war was declared in Germany, the Porsche company was
asked by the German army to make a tank that they later named 'Maus.'
After the war was over they moved from Austria to France. The political party in power
asked Porsche to make a car that could be considered a people's car. This never happened
because the government's political parties changed and they were arrested for assisting the...