The Elefant: A Different Kind of Porsche

The reputation of the Porsche has come a long way since 1931. During the Second World War, Porsche lost the bid on the contract to build the massive Elefant tank. Though he lost the bid, his consortium was contacted to help design the super tank. The Elefant was perhaps the best designed and most massive tank of the war. The chasses were taken from the Porsche 90 Tiger 1 tanks that were already in production.

The tanks suspension used double bogies and longitudinal torsion bars. Porsche designed the engines to be placed in the middle of the body instead of in the rear in order to make room for the new armament that was then placed in the rear of the tank. These engines used electric generators that powered other electric motors which where fused to the sprockets. The Elefant tanks were designed with a longer barrel that gave it a much higher muzzle velocity, and used a longer cartridge, but now had some limits, as it couldn't elevate the barrel.

Porsche AG chasses were later assembled for the Ferdinand series tanks that used 300 horse powered engines, and 100 mm of extra armor plate, which added five more tons of weight to each tank. The Ferdinand/Elefant may have been the most successful tank during the war due to its greater protection ratio, and its superior firepower. These factors gave the tank certain advantages over other tanks, though its weight and the general lack of replacement parts prevented the Germans from fielding a substantial force.

And after the war Porsche continued to use the technology used in the development of the Elefant tanks to begin building a line of reliable automobiles. These standards are still used today in the production of all their vehicles. Porsche is now the world's leading luxury automaker. Since Ferdinand Porsche designed the Volkswagen Beetle first the two companies always retained a very close relationship with each other but eventually merged into one company in 1969.

The durability of the Porsche auto line series is so admirable that many people all over the world want one. Many race car drivers will only drive a Porsche during a racing event. And the Porsche line just keeps getting better and better. Their resale value only goes higher instead of lower, as with many autos on the road today. It is no wonder so many Chicago used car dealers try to go all out to keep them in stock on the car lots.

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