Porsche made a what?

"KylesPerGallon" (gentlemandriver) 08/27/2014 at 15:05 • Filed to: Porsche, Plane, 911, Tractor, Diesel, PFM, 356

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Who knew the company behind the 911, 550 Spyder, and the 917 made these as well.

I’m happy to welcome you all to a little thing I like to call, ‘the reverse smackdown’. Yes every seasoned automotive enthusiast knows that Porsche’s humble beginnings, aside from the KDF wagon, was building tractors. I baited you in with a low ball, but you most likely weren’t expecting the next pitch. Only devout Porschephiles know about Porsche-Flugmotoren.

(above image taken by Bill Strong on !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! )

If you were looking for the link between Automotive and Aviation enthusiasts look no further. Porsche built a series of aircraft engines.

You heard me right. Flat six air-cooled aviation. I can see !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! now, punching louvers in the fuselage. What a glorious reality it could have been.

Ferdinand Porsche was chosen by Hitler to produce two things to help boost the German economy following WWI. There was the ‘Peoples Car’ —what we know now as the Volkswagen— and the ‘Peoples Tractor’. After all the Third Reich was an agrarian backed society so farming was the backbone to Hitler’s Germany.

That’s where the beautiful diesel tractors came from, yet it would not be Porsche’s last foray from Das Auto.

The balls these guys must have had to shove a 1.6L Boxer into the engine compartment and try to defy gravity.

Following the end of World War Two some Germans, most likely with too much free time and engineering skills on their hands, began ripping the engines out of cars to power light aircraft. If this feels like the 1950’s version of LeMons to you, it’s probably a good analog. They sourced these blocks from Porsche 356s and Volkswagen Beetles. You heard me right, they were pulling Raphael Orlove’s engine out of the back of the Bug and welding it in the front of a plane. Modifications would be made so that the engine would continue to perform well when inverted or !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

With much of West German industry castrated regulated in response to the demilitarization of Germany, the Flugzeug was not spared from the list. After some 10 years following the signing of the Potsdam Agreement, personal aviation was once again granted to the German People. Naturally, the next step was just to grab the most powerful car you could find and rip the power plant out and weld it into a glider. The only question was where were they getting the donor?

(image sourced from !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! )

From an objective standpoint the Porsche 356, while stunningly beautiful, only managed to make the Stark of about fünfundneunzig Pferd. Converting to freedom loving units 2 horses get killed in the process, meaning this air cooled flat four made roughly 93 HP in the version they chose. The balls these guys must have had to shove a 1.6L Boxer into the engine compartment and try to defy gravity.

In the early stages the Type 678 soared to new heights despite only making 52 horsepower at 3,200 RPM. The people’s car had, by one form or another, become the Volksflugzeug. However I suppose they scrapped the name when the realized the logo wouldn’t be half as nice and it didn’t exactly roll of the tongue.

“The 1.6-liter boxer engine has a dry sump lubrication and two tilt-insensitive oblique nozzle-start carburetor, allowing at least simple aerobatics such as roll, loop, or diving turns.”

While they did receive some factory support, the Type 678 was not an official Porsche aviation program. That would change when the man—who is widely regarded as the savior of Porsche— took the reigns in 1981. !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! was the guy you hear about in tales as the CEO who, when faced with the death of the 911 instead chose to extend its lifecycle to infinity. He saved us from the 928 becoming the flagship car of the brand. New money poured into development of the sports beetle and the asthmatic 911SC was revamped into the 3.2 Carrera. Racing at LeMans and elsewhere once again became an all or nothing affair and the likes of the 956, 953, and 959 were all completed under his direction.

With this influx of cash and renewed vigor in the 911 platform, business was making a fantastic rebound. Schutz figured the company could easily branch out into other markets to increase the revenue stream. With the 3.2L flat six now a reliable and stout motor to power the business forward, why not try to adapt the engine to fit planes as well. After all, the horizontally opposed boxer 4 worked well in the 678, why wouldn’t the more robust 3.2 make a good power plant for an aircraft? By the mid 80s the Carrera’s engine was making over three times the horsepower of the old 356’s block. Who wouldn’t want to have a Porsche engine in their plane?

(image from !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! )

Porsche dove head first into the aviation game. The PFM division was formed and Porsche Flying Engines would be an actual thing. The PFM 3200 was adapted from a standard 911 engine to accommodate the rigors of flight. Things like high-g oil supply and altitude dependent fuel injection were some of the advancements made to the engine. It was still mostly an automobile engine and as such still ran on Mobile 1 oil. Heck the first units even ran off of regular pump gas!

Should you so be inclined you could request your PFM engine be built off of the 930 blueprints. Only being marketed for a short period of time the PFM 3200 found its way into a number of aircraft early on. The most popular being the Mooney M20L. No, your eyes did not deceive you there exists a Rothmans liveried Mooney.

It is one of the 40 produced in 1988. Although the engine was one of the most technically advanced of its kind, fate would ultimately relegate it to the history books.

While it seemed like Schutz could do not wrong, doubling 911 sales in the United States after taking control, luck was not on his side. Shortly after entering the segment at an estimated cost of 75 million dollars (more than double that amount in todays Deutschmarks) the market for general aviation machines seemed stall and go into a nose dive. Coupled with a drastic change in the US-German exchange rate, Schutz was subsequently shown the door. The program was rolled up at the end of the 80s and FAA approved support was officially dropped in 2007. We are only left with the thought of what could have been.

For more automotive news, comments, editorials follow me on twitter !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!

Jeff-God-of-Biscuits > KylesPerGallon 08/27/2014 at 15:18

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I'm gonna go out on a limb and say Audi...

ly2v8-Brian > KylesPerGallon 08/27/2014 at 15:21

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Here's another Porsche for your consideration.

KylesPerGallon > Jeff-God-of-Biscuits 08/27/2014 at 15:23

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this is in response to what part of the article exactly?

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > KylesPerGallon 08/27/2014 at 15:30

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more shocking is that in the 80s you could still buy a Porsche with less power than a current base model Ford Fiesta.

that said I love 924s.

KylesPerGallon > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles 08/27/2014 at 15:32

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Accord V6s can eat 3.2s for lunch... and I'm strangely okay with that.

BUSINESS ACCOUNTS

Alfalfa > KylesPerGallon 08/27/2014 at 15:33

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Lamborghini also made tractors, and Ruger Firearms started out making drills. Also, Singer made 1911's for a little while (yes, the sewing machine company).

KylesPerGallon > Alfalfa 08/27/2014 at 15:35

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Theres got to be a joke in there about buying Singer 1911.

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > KylesPerGallon 08/27/2014 at 15:38

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This is the engine that the kids like.

Alfalfa > KylesPerGallon 08/27/2014 at 15:39

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Haha the joke may be that they're worth a small fortune. Some have sold at auction for over 100k.

GhostZ > KylesPerGallon 08/27/2014 at 15:43

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*ahem*

GhostZ > KylesPerGallon 08/27/2014 at 15:44

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Dealerships have the best oil!

Jeff-God-of-Biscuits > KylesPerGallon 08/27/2014 at 15:47

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lead image of course.

Jeff-God-of-Biscuits > KylesPerGallon 08/27/2014 at 15:51

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A stitch in time?

Jeff-God-of-Biscuits > KylesPerGallon 08/27/2014 at 15:52

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I used to work at a Porsche shop in the late 80's, and I remember the talk (joking)about whether or not we would be going to airfields to service these.

Remember dialing "popcorn" for the time? > Jeff-God-of-Biscuits 08/27/2014 at 16:12

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My first thought exactly!

KylesPerGallon > Jeff-God-of-Biscuits 08/27/2014 at 16:58

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ahh, forgot they pass a diesel junior in that ad

claramag, Mustaco Master > KylesPerGallon 08/31/2014 at 21:30

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Someone drop a chevy 357 in this and take it to a tractor pull, stat

Jack Does Cars > KylesPerGallon 08/31/2014 at 23:30

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I don't know what that's about, my wife has been using the car.