Sixty Years of Porsche Production in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen

Stuttgart. The home of today’s Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, Stuttgart, has a very special sound in the world of motoring: Zuffenhausen. Indeed, Zuffenhausen is far more than “just” a production plant rich in tradition for Porsche AG, since it is here in Zuffenhausen that the heart of the Company beats to this very day. Zuffenhausen has been Porsche’s home address for more than 70 years and more than one million Porsche sports cars have been built here in Stuttgart since 1950.

The Porsche Design and Construction office moved from Kronenstrasse 24 in downtown Stuttgart to the new group of buildings in the District of Zuffenhausen way back in June 1938. Right from the beginning, important chapters in the history of the automobile were then written in Porsche’s home plant: This is where the first series of the car destined to become the Volkswagen Beetle was built in 1938, followed in 1939 by the Type 64 as the great-grandfather of all Porsche sports cars to come in later years. Originally planned for the Berlin-Rome long-distance race, this aerodynamic, highly streamlined sports car became the trendsetter for all Porsche models to follow.

After the first few units of the Porsche 356 had been built in the Austrian town of Gmünd as of 1948, Porsche returned to Stuttgart as a genuine “car city” in late 1949. With the Porsche Plant in Zuffenhausen still being occupied at the time by the US military, Porsche first rented a production hall on the premises of the nearby Reutter & Co. GmbH Coachbuilding and Body Construction Plant, starting to prepare production in early 1950.

Porsche Museum supports special exhibition at the High Museum of Art – First Ancestor of All Porsche Sports Cars on Show in America for the First Time

Stuttgart. The Museum run by Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, Stuttgart, Germany, is sending its legendary Type 64 Berlin-Rome Car on a long journey. Befitting the 60th anniversary of Porsche in America, the aluminium body of Type 64 will be presented from 21 March to 20 June 2010 at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia (USA), taking the first and most prominent exhibit at the Porsche Museum in Zuffenhausen to a new location outside of Germany for the first time.

The High Museum of Art is one of the world’s leading art museums. In its special exhibition “The Allure of the Automobile”, the High Museum of Art is expressing its recognition of outstanding automotive developments in the period 1930 to 1960, focusing on differences in the development of American and European design. Type 64 will be presented next to other icons in the world of the automobile from Bugatti, Duesenberg, Jaguar, Ferrari, Pierce Arrow, Packard, Cadillac and Tucker as a synthesis of innovative construction and design, supreme craftsmanship, and exceptional design.