A rare all-terrain amphibious talent in 1957 – the Porsche 597 was first all-wheel-drive vehicle to bear the Porsche name 🏁
Featuring switchable front-wheel drive, it started life as a design submitted by Porsche in response to a call to tender by the German army during the 1950s. With it’s trough-like monocoque bodyshell, it could withstand almost any type of terrain – both on land and water.
The designers equipped the type 597 with a modified four-cylinder flat engine from the Porsche 356 in the rear putting out 50 hp with impressive driving dynamics despite its inclination towards off-road capabilities. Weight around 870 kilograms with top speed of up to 100 km/h, the Porsche 597 was extremely agile for a military vehicle. Very low gear in its transmission allowed it to scale inclines of up to 65 percent at 1,000 rpm.
Manufactured ambitiously 71 units (some reports claim 99) but lost to the DKW Munga. Porsche cleverly sold them to private customers as ‘Jagdwagen’ (hunting car) focusing on hunters, foresters and farmers. For this purpose, the nickname ‘Jagdwagen’ (hunting car), which is still used today, was created. Around 50 units still in existence.
All secrets about this long forgotten Four-Wheel drive Porsche revealed in detail:- https://www.secret-classics.com/en/porsche-597-jagdwagen-2/
