Ferdinand Porsche, 911 sports car designer, dies

[BlueStateSaint]

I was kind of undecided about putting this here, maybe BN?  But, not too many people know who this guy is . . .

Ferdinand Porsche, 911 sports car designer, dies

By DAVID McHUGH
 
updated 4/5/2012 12:52:58 PM ET

FRANKFURT, Germany — He designed Porsche's classic 911 sports car — the sleek model that evokes power, wealth and envy among aficionados — cementing his grandfather's name into the modern psyche.

Ferdinand Alexander Porsche died Thursday in Salzburg, Austria at age 76, Porsche AG said. No cause was provided.
 
Porsche, known as F.A. to his colleagues, was head of the Porsche design studio in the early 1960s when the company developed the 911 model that remains its brand-defining product. The car, now in its seventh version, remains recognizably the same vehicle, with its sloping roofline, long, low hood and prominent headlights.

The creator of the Porsche 911 has founded a culture of design in our company that distinguishes our sports cars even today," Porsche CEO Matthias Mueller said.
 
Porsche was the son of former Porsche Chairman Ferry Porsche, who died in 1998, and the grandson of Ferdinand Porsche, who started the company as a design and engineering firm in the 1930s.

I've always loved Porsches.  RIP, Ferry . . .