Erwin Komenda - The man who got Porsche into shape

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Erwin Komenda - The man who got Porsche into shape

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Created on March 12, 2025

Text:

Karl Ludvigsen (Übersetzung: Paul Krüger)

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Ludvigsen Partners

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Volkswagen AG

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Dt. Museum

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Archiv Martin Schröder

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In 1933, Erwin Komenda is still fresh in the young Porsche design office

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Stuttgart, 1937: Erwin Komenda (seated) consults with a colleague

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Erwin Komenda in the thirties: Behind the friendly smile lies a man who can fight doggedly for his technical convictions

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Erwin Komenda (left) in conversation with Ferdinand Porsche, who had just been released from prison in France in 1950

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Erwin Komenda 1955: He is responsible for the entire further development of the 356, both visually and technically

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Porsche, 1956: Erwin Komenda (center) discusses technical details with chief designer Karl Rabe (left) and Ferry Porsche

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August 1959: Erwin Komenda (center) in conversation with chief designer Karl Rabe (right) and transmission specialist Leopold Schmid

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A late portrait of Erwin Komenda, which perhaps reveals a little of the stress that "Butzi" Porsche put him under during the development of the 901

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During his time at the WKF, Erwin Komenda designed this sleek limousine on a Steyr chassis

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Steyr with WKF bodywork: the heavily creased windshield is intended to reduce air resistance

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The pinnacle of racy sportiness was this four-seater roadster on a Steyr chassis, also a Komenda design

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After the takeover of WKF by Steyr, this four-door touring car was designed by Erwin Komenda

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In an effort to breathe some life into the Sindelfingen design language, Komenda proposed this Mercedes-Benz 370 S Roadster

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The Mercedes-Benz W 17 rear-engined prototype with streamlined coupé body by Erwin Komenda

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With its center-tube frame and air-cooled four-cylinder boxer engine at the rear, the Mercedes-Benz W 17 was very progressive in the early 1930s

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Patent drawings from November 1936 show an early stage of the Porsche Type 60 and its supporting structure

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This patent drawing by Komenda from July 6, 1939 already shows the split rear window that would later become typical of the VW

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Porsche Type 32 (1933) - design and style already very similar to the Volkswagen for NSU

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Auto Union Type C - The cut-away body clearly shows the special design features of Porsche design number 22.

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Auto Union Type A (1934) - Hans Stuck on March 6, 1934 during the acceptance drive on the AVUS

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The outbreak of war prevented series production of the Porsche Type 114, here the two-seater sports version with a narrow roof

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VW Type 82 Kübelwagen (1941) - US paratroopers in Normandy

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In 1940, Porsche was commissioned to develop a new luxury class car for Steyr. The platform frame was Komenda's contribution

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Steyr 70 (1940) with V8 engine and four individually suspended wheels. Komenda contributed a great deal to the car, but only a few test vehicles were built

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If good looks alone were enough, the Cisitalia 360 would be a winner. It was powered by a turbocharged twelve-cylinder boxer engine with two blowers

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Komenda's design for the Cisitalia 370 with air-cooled V8 rear engine

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This model from the Porsche test department is the only three-dimensional shape that the Type 370 ever took on

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Porsche Type 352 (1946) - Komenda's proposal with water-cooled four-cylinder engine and torsion bar suspension

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Porsche Type 352 (1946) - design for a four-door saloon, this time with an air-cooled rear engine

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Porsche Type 372 (1946) - Erwin Komenda designed a compact six-cylinder boxer in a platform frame for possible production in Argentina

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The first Porsche 356, registered on June 8, 1948. This photo is often cropped so that Erwin Komenda (left) is missing and only Ferry and Ferdinand Porsche can be seen

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Erwin Komenda (left) and workshop manager Otto Husslein behind the wooden frame for the first Type 356/2 production coupé

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Stuttgart 1950: The first Reutter prototype for acceptance by Ferry Porsche (right) and his father Ferdinand. Behind them with a bright hat: Erwin Komenda

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The bodies of the first Porsche 550 were also designed by Erwin Komenda. Here is the car of Paul Frère/Richard von Frankenberg 1953

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Komenda patent from May 23, 1953: the coupé body of the Porsche 550 with its numerous air vents

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Summary

For more than 30 years, Erwin Komenda shaped the appearance and design of Porsche automobiles. But Zuffenhausen was only the last of four important stages in the Austrian engineer's career. Our portrait traces his career.

This article contains the following chapters

Apprenticeship years
Steyr and Daimler-Benz
Switch to Porsche
Type 60 and Auto Union
F-car
Military service
Post-war period
Legacy

Estimated reading time: 16min

Preview (beginning of the article)

He was not a man of the first hour, not part of the small group of engineers who supported Ferdinand Porsche when he decided to set up his own engineering firm at the end of 1930. It consisted of chief designer Karl Rabe, engine builder Josef Kales, chassis specialist Josef Zahradnik and drive designer Karl Fröhlich. About a year later - in November 1931 - Erwin Komenda entered Kronenstraße 24 in Stuttgart. At that time, they were a dozen people on a single floor. By 1938, three floors were needed for a workforce of 93 employees. The first employees were chosen because Porsche - then 56 years old - had already worked with them and knew them well. As far as Erwin Komenda was concerned, his work at Steyr from 1926 to 1929 overlapped with the start of Ferdinand Porsche's renewal of the complete Steyr range. Porsche had not forgotten Komenda, who had been lured to Daimler-Benz in 1929. His work there led to him moving across Stuttgart to the new Porsche company in November 1931.

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