#ErnstFuhrmann

Dr Ernst Fuhrmann already in 1947 was working for Porsche, initially at the Gmund facility in Austria, relocating subsequently to Stuttgart. In 1954 a small team in Zuffenhausen, a Stuttgart suburb, led by Ernst Fuhrmann began a new, pure Porsche engine. Designated the Type 547, it had dual overhead camshafts, chrome-lined cylinder liners, dual Solex carburetors, 39 degree valve included angle, 48mm intake and 41mm exhaust valves, a roller bearing crankshaft, dry sump lubrication, dual ignition and an extremely over-square 1.288:1 ratio of bore to stroke, 85x66mm. These engines were fitted to a revised 550 chassis. With the Type 356A in 1955, Fuhrmann took into consideration, the engine space of the 356 in designing the 547 four-cam engine. Four-cam engines had been circulating around Zuffenhausen since 1954 in the works' engineering test car and in Ferry Porsche's cabriolet. The Porsche 550 Spyder had taken convincing class victories in 1952, 1953, and 1954 at the Carrera Panamericana. The race contributed its name to the new engine. In 1956 Fuhrmann left Porsche and took over responsibility for development with the car parts company Goetze, where in 1962 he joined the board of directors. He returned to Porsche in 1971 initially as Technical Director, and between 1972 and 1980 as Chairman of the board at Porsche AG which by then had become a Share-holder owned company.

We'll publish a biography on him on the occasion of his anniversary or when it will be reached a sufficient number of cars.

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