Book reviews, December 1989, December 1989

Cars are my life by Prof Dr Ing. hc. Ferry Porsche. 279 pp. 93/4 x  63/4, Patrick Stephens Ltd., Denington Estate, Wellingborough, Northants, NN8 2RQ. £19.95.

There have been so many books about Porsche but this one, written with Gunther Molter, is rather special, because it is Ferry Porsche’s own life story — and who knows more about Porsche cars than the son of the famous Dr Ferdinand Porsche?

He saw the birth of the Volkswagen, and in this book tells of the cars his father was responsible for before the Nazi Peoples’ Car was conceived and of how the Porsche came into being and was developed. It is all there, the pre-war Auto Union racing-cars, Ferry Porsche’s 1920 Christmas present of a miniature car propelled by a two-cylinder engine, Hitler’s influence on German car production – Ferry Porsche drove Hitler to the station after the ceremony to proclaim the VW, in a convertible of this make in 1936— and the arrival of the Cisitalia racing car etc. But naturally the Porsche gets the most coverage, by a man who even at 80 still attends the factory almost every working day. Some of the pictures come from Daimler-Benz archives but others are new to me. This is another book that all avid Porsche owners should acquire. WB