The man responsible for the most iconic car of all time, Ferdinand Alexander Porsche, passes away at 76. Fifty or so years ago he became head of the Porsche Design, where he made history by designing the Porsche 911 – known as the 901 back then. Here we are in 2012 and the 911 is still being made with the pretty much the same shape as Ferdinand came up with in 1963. That’s what they mean by timeless design.

The 91 wasn’t the only creation of F.A. Porsche, among his most famous designs include the Formula 1 race car type 804 and the Porsche 904 Carrera GTS, which today is considered one of the most beautiful racing cars ever. He also  founded the “Porsche Design Studio” in Stuttgart in 1972.

Porsche 911 is of course not the best-looking sports car in the world, but it’s always been one of the best and most functional. That is due to F.A. Porsche’s love of engineering. He preferred function over visual aesthetics:

 “Design must be functional, and functionality must be translated into visual aesthetics, without gimmicks that have to be explained,” was the credo for his design work. F.A. Porsche: “A formally coherent product needs no embellishment, it should be increased by a mere formality.” The form should be presented to understand and not distract from the product and its function. “Good design should be honest,” was his conviction.

About Ferdinand Alexander Porsche (1935-2012):

Ferdinand Alexander Porsche was born on 11 December 1935 in Stuttgart and was the eldest son of Dorothea and Ferry Porsche. Even his childhood was dominated by automobiles, he spent much time in the construction areas and development workshops of his grandfather Ferdinand Porsche. In 1943 the family moved, along with the Porsche brand, to Austria, where he attended the school in Zell am See. After returning to Stuttgart in 1950, he attended the Free Waldorf School. After leaving school, he enrolled at the prestigious College of Design in Ulm.

Ferdinand Alexander Porsche received numerous honours and awards both for his work as a car designer as well as for individual designs.  The “Comité International de Promotion et de Prestige” was honoured  to him in 1968 for outstanding aesthetic design of the Porsche 911, while he was chosen as the Industrie Forum Design Hannover (iF) 1992 “award winners”. He earned the title of professor from the Austrian Federal President in 1999.