The clues to greatness were there to be seen, even in that first car. Professor Ferdinand Porsche’s passion for motorsport rivalled even that of Enzo Ferrari, and when he and his son Ferry created the first Porsche road car, motorsport would gain one of its most enduring icons. The 356 set a template, a design philosophy, that serves Porsche on road and in racing to this day. Simply put, the car was aerodynamic when that was uncommon, light in a world of leviathans, stupendously reliable and efficient in all senses of that word. And victorious from day one.

In fact, the very first road car out the door of the plant in Gmund, Austria – to which the Porsches had retreated after the war – was campaigned by its owner, taking victory in a minor, but hugely symbolic event at Innsbruck during the summer of 1948. Ferdinand Porsche, sadly, did not live to see the factory seriously embrace racing, though he did sketch out the lines of a low-drag 356 racer which, he figured, could win its class at Le Mans; but by then the reins had been handed to the pragmatic and conservative Ferry. During the early 1950s, a madly enthusiastic French importer had been pressing Ferry Porsche to bring his cars to Le Mans. He came, and saw for himself in 1951 that the little 356s contained the stuff of victory. Porsche watched as a scarcely modified 356 circulated consistently and reliably, using an average 87mph of its 99mph top speed on every lap. The car duly claimed class victory. For Ferry, that race was the physical expression of the company’s never-abandoned philosophy.

Clockwise from top: The 550 Spyder took over from the 356; the lightweight 356 SL, complete with aerodynamic wheel spats; at the Carrera Panamerica in 1954 with a 550 Spyder in Buenos Aires; the 904 Carrera GTS