Porscheâs American distributor Max Hoffman was a Viennese native, but he understood his U.S. racing customers well. It was for them that he proposed a stripped and lightened roadster, and Ferry responded with the 1952â1953 America Roadster. Porsche Archiv
The Typ 534 was not the most proportionally pleasing concept when it emerged from the design studio over the winter of 1953 and 1954. While wheelbase specifications are difficult to find, putting it in scale to the men holding the background, the car appeared to be Volkswagen Beetle length. Porsche Archiv
Komenda and Klie developed a number of front-end models for the Typ 644 during 1954. Many of these utilized the 356A rounded-front deck lid in between a pair of concepts for headlight treatments. Porsche Archiv
The Typ 656 on a 2,400-millimeter wheelbase provided comfortable rear seat room with two-thirds of a meter from seat back to seat back. This 1:10-scale seat measurement sketch appeared July 2, 1954. Porsche Archiv
Erwin Komenda’s design team, with Heinrich Klie as his chief modeler, offered this full-scale proposal in 1955. This was the Typ 656. Porsche Archiv
Through January 1956, Heinrich Klie experimented with new front-end ideas. This 1:1-scale clay was an early concept on the 695 platform. Porsche Archiv
This February 6, 1957, plan of the Typ 644 put the car on the 2,250-millimeter wheelbase. This 1:5 drawing designated the car as a hardtop. Porsche Archiv
Nothing is left to chance in the design of an automobile. This drawing, made on the 695 platform on February 14, 1957, examined the change in weight distribution by the number of occupants and luggage. Porsche Archiv
Ideas flew fast and furiously from the body engineering design studio. This 1:10-scale concept appeared on June 15, 1957, labeled “Sportwagen.” Porsche Archiv
In the design studio, these were known as “A” and “B,” done in 1:1 scale. Photographed on July 24, 1957, the version on the A passenger side was Porsche staffer Heinrich Klie’s work while the B driver’s side represented Goertz’s second approach to the 695. Porsche Archiv
