First Porsche ever built found in old shed

Porsche have been making waves with their electric-hybrid 918 Spyder, and it seems the car's electric heritage goes back to the first Porsche ever built.

The car that was first branded as a Porsche was the 1948 Type 356, but 50 years earlier -- aged just 22 -- Ferdinand Porsche had designed and built another car. And 115 years later, that vehicle has now been recovered for the Porsche Museum after being found in an old shed where it has sat untouched since 1902.

It's known as the P1 (for Porsche number one) because the young engineer engraved that code onto every one of its key components. However the full name is 'Egger-Lohner electric vehicle C.2 Phaeton model', pointing to the car's propulsion from a rear-mounted electric motor.

The unit produced just a little more than 2kW in normal running, but could edge just over a stonking 3.5kW for short periods in overdrive. A 12-speed control unit regulated the speed, with the peak a respectable 33km/h and a range of just under 80km.

Mounted on a wooden chassis, the vehicle body was adaptable to transform into either a covered coupe or open phaeton car. Young Porsche first took it to the streets of Vienna, Austria, in 1898, and the following year tested it further at the Berlin international motor vehicle exhibition, which included an electric car race. Porsche won the race in the P1 with 18 minutes to spare ahead of the second place, and also won the efficiency award by using the least energy, despite having three passengers aboard.

The P1 will now remain as part of the permanent display at the Porsche Museum, which is marking its fifth anniversary.

This reporter is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott