Most people may know the 1948 Type 356 as Porsche’s first vehicle, but the company’s history actually dates back to 1898. In June of that year Porsche founder Ferdinand Porsche completed his first vehicle, the “Egger-Lohner electric vehicle, C.2 Phaeton model”. That vehicle came to be known as the “P1″ (standing for Porsche, number one) because Ferdinand stamped P1 on all of the vehicle’s main components.
Weighing in at nearly 3,000 pounds and powered by an electric motor rated at 3 horsepower (5 horsepower in overdrive mode), the P1 first hit the streets of Vienna, Austria, on June 26, 1898. After more than a year of testing, Ferdinand entered the the P1 into the international motor vehicle exhibition in Berlin, winning the 24-mile race by a hefty 18 minutes.
In addition to winning the race outright, the “P1″ recorded the least amount of energy consumed.
A total of four P1s were built, each with a top speed of 21mph and a range of about 49 miles.
Amazingly, Ferdinand’s P1 was put into storage in a warehouse in 1902 and remained there untouched for more than a century. Porsche recently discovered the P1 and will put the historical vehicle on permanent display at the Porsche Museum in Germany.
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