Porsche crest 24.04.2002

It is a double Golden Jubilee: on 25th April, 1952 at 12.30 p.m., the first Minister President, Reinhold Maier, announced the founding of the Federal State of Baden-Württemberg in Stuttgart. It is also half a century since Ferry Porsche sketched the first draft of the crest on a serviette in a New York restaurant, which would later adorn the cars created by the sports car manufacturers from Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen. Tomorrow, 25th April, 2002, this important double birthday will be celebrated in style. Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, Stuttgart, will congratulate the state on its 50 years' existence by holding a festival procession through the capital. Precisely fifty cars, driven by employees, directors and representatives from Porsche AG and many celebrities from the worlds of politics, business and sport, will document the Zuffenhausen production of sports cars from 1952 to the present day, which has been closely linked with the rise of the state of Baden-Württemberg into one of the most prosperous economic regions in Germany. A part of this success is of course the Porsche crest, which has now decorated the steering wheels, bonnets and wheel caps of the Porsche sports car models for five decades. With its six stylised antler branches on a gold background and the black-red lateral stripes, it clearly hints at the crest of the former state of Württemberg-Hohenzollern. The centre is adorned by the symbol of Stuttgart, the Porsche headquarters: a prancing black horse, which can also be found in the city's crest. The whole crest is finally crowned by the Porsche logo. As early as the end of 1952, Porsche delivered the first sports car of the type 356 with the new crest on the horn button in the centre of the steering wheel. Before that, a simple logo on the bonnet had indicated that this particular car was a Porsche. Three years later, the crest was integrated into the handle on the front luggage compartment lid. In later models, Porsche dispensed with the handle, but even today the crest still appears in the same position as an identification symbol for all production sports cars from Zuffenhausen. Thanks to its famous successes in international motor racing in the early Fifties, Porsche soon become known even beyond Germany as a producer of unique sports cars – and so its company emblem became famous too. As the number of Porsche fans all over the world steadily increased, the private demand for the trademark also grew and soon it began to appear in living rooms and wardrobes – in the form of table pennants, badges and stickers, as cuff links, T-shirt prints or posters. Some fans of the brand even plant their gardens with flowerbeds in the shape and colours of the crest, while others wear pullovers that they have knitted with the crest pattern. In the meantime, the legally protected Porsche crest, which can only be exploited commercially with the explicit authorisation of Porsche AG, has become one of the most famous trademarks in the world. It is a symbol of the Porsche legend and has become the international epitome of the fascinating charm which the sports cars "Made in Zuffenhausen" still exude even today.