The world's first Porsche car built by the founder himself, Ferdinand Porsche, has found its way to the company's museum after disappearing for 116 years.
We are well aware of the various Porsche models ranging from Boxster, Cayman, 911, Panamera, Macan, Cayenne or even the utterly insane 918 Spyder. The luxurious car company has a history of innovations in the automobile industry dating back to 1898. Ferdinand Porsche, renowned automotive engineer and founder of the Porsche car company, built his first car in 1898, and we are not referring to the 1898 Lohner-Porsche Mixte-Hybrid, which is regarded as the world's first hybrid. Porsche's very first car was the "Egger-Lohner electric vehicle, C.2 Phaeton model," or P1 for short.
The P1, or "Porsche Number One," was among the very first vehicles registered in Austria when it hit the roads of Vienna, June 26, 1898, Porsche said in a press release, Monday. The historic art piece was found in an undisclosed location in Austria, last year. It was discovered in a surprisingly good condition. It was sitting along with a collection of horse-drawn carriages since 1902. The P1 was purchased by one of "[Ferdinand] Porsche's living relatives" and is now on display at the museum located in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen, Germany.
The P1 was powered by a 3 hp rear-mounted motor, giving the 2,977-pound car an impressive top speed of 22 mph and it lasted for 3-5 hours on one charge. For the cars of that time, P1 was placed on top of many other gasoline-powered vehicles. It also won the 40-km EV race in 1899 across Berlin, besting 28 other participants, half of whom didn't even complete the race due to technical difficulties.
The P1 will be on display in the Porsche museum over the weekend after being unveiled by Dr. Wolfgang Porsche, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, and Matthias Müller, President and CEO of Porsche AG. To mark the fifth anniversary of the museum, the P1 will be on public display for free according to Porsche.
