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Ronzi · 12-03-2006, 08:10 AM

I suppose if laying down the basic specifications of a rear engine V16 Grand Prix car, and then selling that design to Auto Union in 1933 can be called "some design work", then Ferdinand Porsche did "some" of the work on it.

I suppose it could be argued that Porsche himself probably didn't put so much as one line of the car on an engineering drawing. That was handled by Karl Rabe and the engineering staff at Porsche's design company.
The same argument is often made about American designer Harry Miller and his racing engines. Did Miller design them, or was it really Leo Goossen, his engineer and draftsman? Or, ... maybe even Fred Offenhauser, his chief machinist?

In any event, by the time the car in question was built, doubtless one of the last ones built for racing in the 1937 season, Porsche was well out of the development process at Auto Union.

12-03-2006, 08:10 AM	#4
Ronzi Registered User Join Date: May 2004 Location: Denver CO Posts: 748	I suppose if laying down the basic specifications of a rear engine V16 Grand Prix car, and then selling that design to Auto Union in 1933 can be called "some design work", then Ferdinand Porsche did "some" of the work on it. I suppose it could be argued that Porsche himself probably didn't put so much as one line of the car on an engineering drawing. That was handled by Karl Rabe and the engineering staff at Porsche's design company. The same argument is often made about American designer Harry Miller and his racing engines. Did Miller design them, or was it really Leo Goossen, his engineer and draftsman? Or, ... maybe even Fred Offenhauser, his chief machinist? In any event, by the time the car in question was built, doubtless one of the last ones built for racing in the 1937 season, Porsche was well out of the development process at Auto Union.