Porsche 542L

[CurtEgerer]

There was a thread a few weeks back in OT regarding concept cars. The Porsche-Studebaker was one of them. I never heard of it before. The September Hemmings Sports & Exotic has an excellent article on this obscure project. Check out the engine below and all the familiar design elements! This is an air-cooled V6 built in 1952/53. Ferry Porsche himself even delivered the car and engines to Studebaker in South Bend, Indiana (note to Brian: I'll bet you never knew Mr. Porsche was once only a few miles from your house!). The significant part of the story is that Porsche used the Studebaker money to fund the building of their new factory in 1952 when the banks wouldn't loan them money. Without Studebaker, who knows what path Porsche would've taken

[911T1971]

Ferry Porsche's book -We at Porsche- talks about the Studebaker project on pages 245-247.
"My idea was to build a small car, but not as small as the Volkswagen and more comfortable. It would be a four- or five seater with an air-cooled engine, somewhat the same concept as that used by GM for their Corvair some years later..."

[MoparBoy72]

That's neat; It kind of reminds me of some of the early Tatra engines.

[gulf908]

Kurt,
The motor pic seems to be in order - however I seem to recollect that I have seen similar air cleaners on a '68 912 I had years ago ???

Cheers,
Dennis.