5 Facts About the History of the Porsche Logo
Daily Slideshow: Every element in the Porsche crest represents an important aspect of the legendary car make's identity.
The History of the Crest
The Porsche company was founded in 1931 by Ferdinand Porsche, but it wasn't until the 1950s when they started building their own cars that he decided to create an emblem. With the help of his son, Ferdinand "Ferry" Porsche, and other trusted individuals, the crest was created and used in 1952. The Porsche logo was created with the company's birthplace in mind.
Horse Breeders
Before Stuttgart became the home of Porsche, it was a horse farm way back in the year 950. When Stuttgart became a city and the capital of Wurttemberg in the 13th century, it featured horses in its coat of arms. The design eventually evolved into an illustration of a rampant horse in 1642, which inspired what was to become the Porsche emblem.
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The Inspiration for the Design
Now, what about the design of the rest of the logo? The symbol for Porsche had to be an homage to its birthplace, while still representing an identity of power. Stuttgart's horse is shown in the center, so where did the antlers and the colors come from? The answer is the coat of arms of Wurttemberg-Hohenzollern, which was a simplified version of the Kingdom of Wurttemberg's (later known as Free People's State of Wurttemberg) coat of arms.
The first draft of the design was drawn by Ferry Porsche on a serviette in New York with Max Hoffman sat beside him. Hoffman was Porsche's US importer and also had helped in the creation of the logo. However, the final sketch and the one used was created by Franz Xaver Reimspress, a Porsche engineer.
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Incorporating the Crest in Porsche Cars
Although the company was founded in 1931, the crest was created in 1952 after the Porsches started building their very own cars. So, they started to incorporate the emblem into the new Porsche 356. It first appeared on the steering wheel, two years later on the front bonnet handle, and four years later it was available on the wheel hubcaps as an option.
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Who Had It First?
Both Ferrari's and Porsche's crest feature a rampant horse but while one was meant to represent power, the other was meant as good luck. The Ferrari horse was meant to bring Enzo Ferrari luck as it did with Francesco Baracca, a fighter pilot during WWI. The prancing horse Ferrari logo first appeared on the Scuderia racing team's Alfa Romeo race car at the Grand Prix of Spa. Later in 1947 when Ferrari officially built its first car was the first time the emblem was used on a road car.
Ferrari started adding the horse to his cars in 1932, while Porsche started in 1952. But the history behind the horse in the Porsche crest goes much farther back than the 20th century.
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