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Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsOldest surviving Porsche prototype to be auctioned off
Take a gander at this baby:
Possibly the most significant Porsche sports car ever built, a 1939 race car known as the Type 64, built for the Berlin-Rome race, is set to go up for auction this August.
Before the Second World War, while Ferdinand Porsche was tasked by the Nazis with building an economical peoples car, his son, Ferry Porsche, took it upon himself to design a race car Germany could use in competition.
What he came up with was the Type 64, an aluminum-bodied sports car utilizing aircraft engineering and aerodynamics, but based on the KdF-Wagen, the prototype car that would become the Beetle.
Powering the Type 64 was the same flat-four found in the KdF-Wagen, but with compression bumped up so it could make 32 horsepower; and with the rear axle ratios changed to allow for a top speed of 173.5 km/h.
https://driving.ca/porsche/auto-news/news/oldest-surviving-porsche-prototype-from-1939-set-to-be-auctioned-off
democratisphere
(17,235 posts)Steve McQueen's Porsche 917K in 2017.
House of Roberts
(5,168 posts)I'll have to get out my copy of Ludvigsen's and re-read what was known about it when that was published.
Lady Freedom Returns
(14,120 posts)ProudLib72
(17,984 posts)Surely that's at the flywheel and not at the rear wheels.
BootinUp
(47,141 posts)The hp number.
ProudLib72
(17,984 posts)It's very interesting that they could make a fast car with very little power way back then simply by studiously sculpting it into aerodynamic shape. We left that behind when we figured out how to manufacture powerful engines. Think of what it might mean to focus on aerodynamics again. We could certainly get along with cars that only produce 60-70 hp. The Prius makes 121 hp. Halve that engine, focus on aerodynamics and a lightweight body, and all of a sudden you have a car that gets over 100 mpg.
KY_EnviroGuy
(14,490 posts)Or, a Beetle that told way too many lies.........
Hotler
(11,420 posts)the beautiful sound of a flat-12 at full song. The beginning minute and a half and the last minute and a half are the best.
https://www.topspeed.com/cars/car-news/porsche-917-gets-ready-for-rennsport-reunion-video-ar171286/pictures.html#648315
From the 1939 type 64 to the 917
True Dough
(17,302 posts)I don't find the aesthetics pleasing though. Those headlights remind me of...