from AP via San Jose Mercury News
Designer of Porsche 911 dies at age 76 in Austria
By Associated Press
FRANKFURT, Germany — The Porsche 911, with its sloping roof line, long hood and powerful rear engine, has been a sports car-lover’s fantasy for the half century since its 1963 introduction. Its creator, Ferdinand Alexander Porsche, grandson of the automaker’s founder, is dead at age 76.
Porsche died Thursday in Salzburg, Austria, Porsche AG said Thursday. No cause was provided.
Known as F.A. to his colleagues, Porsche headed the company’s design studio in the early 1960s when it needed a replacement for its first car, the Porsche 356. He came up with something sleek, stripped of decoration, and packing a six-cylinder engine where the 356 had a four-cylinder. It’s a combination that the company has evolved instead of replacing and which turns on car enthusiasts even today.
The 911, now in its seventh version, remains recognizably the same vehicle, though with much updated mechanical parts and technology. The new version was mobbed and groped when it was unveiled in September at the Frankfurt auto show. Showgoers left the doors and roof smeared with fingerprints as they scrambled to sit behind the wheel.