Way, way back in 1898, long before he’d create his famous brand, Ferdinand Porsche designed an automobile that could reach speeds of a whopping 21 miles per hour, and that, for the time, was pretty F-ing impressive. Porsche would eventually build just four of his “Egger-Lohner electric car model C.2 Phaeton” models, and I assume that the vehicle was limited because it was next to impossible to remember that entire name. Needless to say, the P1 or Porsche No. One, as it became known by people who hated saying the whole name, was a marvel of modern automotive engineering and an instant classic that should have been stored in a museum.
Except it wasn’t. Instead, the very first P1 was apparently locked away in an old shed in Austria in 1902, according to the Associated Press, and it stayed there for approximately 111 years, until it was finally revealed on display at the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart, Germany yesterday. At the risk of editorializing, though, I’d want to see the CarFax on this P1 before I drive it. I’m not sure that sitting in a garage for over a century is good for a car’s engine.