After Ferdinand Porsche died, his son Ferry was asked by the Studebaker Company, to design a new car. Porsche suggested a 4 cylinder 1.500 cc coupe, rear engine car but that was not accepted by Studebaker, which wanted a 6 cylinder, much larger car with a front engine.
In 1952 Porsche begins the project and after 18 months the prototype was ready to be tested. Labelled as Porshe Project 542. Karl Rabe was the chief engineer.
Porsche proposed a 6V rear engine four door as shown in picture below. It was to have a 2,82 m wheelbase, independent suspension and was to try two different cooling systems, one air-cooled, another composite air-water, named internally the 542L ( L from Luft=Air in German) and the 542W (W from Wasser=water in German) 90x80 mm
These were rated as follows:
The air cooled version weighted 220KG, and had an output of 98 HP at 3700 rpm.
The water cooled version weighed 206 KG had an output 106 HP at 3500 rpm.
They both were tested in Europe and Porsche travelled to USA in 1954 with four prototypes, two of each engine type. When he arrived, Studebaker had been bought by Packard and the new firm was not interested in the project.
That was the end of the Studebaker/Porsche project.
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