The four-wheel drive Porsche from 1954
02/15/2014
The Porsche 959 is generally regarded as the first four-wheel-drive Porsche sports car and thus as the founder of the Carrera 4 variants, which have been around since the 964 to this day. However, according to AR 11/1954 , a Lou Fageol in America built a four-wheel drive Porsche as early as 1954, i.e. 60 years ago.
When this American inventor found his Porsche 1500 Super too slow, he fitted a second Porsche engine under the front hood to improve performance. It is said that once the engines were properly tuned, it was a speedy performer and was a worthy opponent even to the Allard high-performance sports car thanks to its good traction - the front engine naturally drove the front wheels via a Jeep front axle.
But Fageol wanted more and built a second car (shown in the two photos) with a tubular frame and aluminum body that was even more of a racing car. He also used two Porsche 1500 Super engines to power his self-built car. At the 400 km race in Albany, he took second place in the unlimited class with the all-wheel drive sports car reminiscent of a Pininfarina prototype. It is not known whether the car survived.
