FOUR REAL

This may come as a surprise to many of you, but the development of Porsche’s flat-four boxer engine predates the Adolf Hitler-driven project that, ultimately, resulted in the creation of the Volkswagen Beetle. While the four-cylinder air-cooled engine is a major part of the Beetle story, Ferdinand Porsche was responsible persevering with the unit from its much earlier beginnings, which we can trace back to 1931, when Zündapp (a major German motorcycle manufacturer) financed a project by Porsche to create a relatively small and affordable car. By the following year, three prototypes of the Porsche Type 12 were produced, each with a different engine — a five-cylinder radial design, a two-stroke two-cylinder and Porsche’s own four-stroke flat-four. Sadly, the project failed to progress any further, but it marked the starting point of the beloved Porsche boxer we know and love today.

War-related activity kept Ferdinand occupied in the years that followed, but a notable milestone during this period was the contract awarded to him by Hitler for the development of a ‘people’s car’ (loosely translated as ), duly delivered before the end of the decade and, owing more than a passing nod to the Type 12 in both styling and mechanical underpinnings, came complete with a petrol-powered flat-four engine. Porsche soon shifted his focus to developing