PORSCHE TYPE 60K10
(1939)
By Rob Arndt
 Original VW Type 1 wooden mock-up of 1938 |
Two of Dr. Ferdinand Porsche's goals were to build an economical car for the masses and to build a sports car. The Volkswage Type1 (a.k.a. Kdf-Wagen) fulfilled the first goal and provided the means to realize the second - the little-known Type 60K10, which would be the basis for the postwar 1948 Porsche 356/2 coupe and the start of the Porsche sports car line.
However, when Dr. Porsche approached the DAF (German Labor Front) with the concept of a racing version of the Type 1 he was rebuked as it was not "in the spirit of a utilitarian Peoples Car". So he pushed ahead on his own with a design of a new coupe with a mid-positioned water-cooled V10 engine which incorporated no KdF-Wagen parts.
Then the authorities recognized that a sports design based on the KdF would provide good publicity. Porsche was authorized to proceed with the new concept with a view to running the car in the projected Berlin-Rome-Berlin road race in September 1939. A win for Nazi Germany would be used for propaganda purposes of German superiority.
Porsche, therefore, designed the Type 60K10 on a stretched Type 1 floor plan but with a higher-hp VW engine of 50 hp (versus 22 hp standard) with larger valves, twin carburetors and higher compression ratio.
The Type 60K10 was to compete in a
A similar fate befell the Mercedes T80 land speed record car that could not compete in the projected 1940 record attempt that would have utilized the new Autobahn.
STRANGE VEHICLES OF PRE-WAR
(1928-1945)
