F.A. Porsche, designer of iconic 911, dies

FRANKFURT, Germany -- Ferdinand Alexander Porsche, who designed the classic, sleek 911 sports car that evokes power, wealth and envy among aficionados, died Thursday in Salzburg, Austria. He was 76, Porsche AG said.

Porsche, known as F.A. to his colleagues, was head of the Porsche design studio in the early 1960s when the company developed the 911 model that remains its brand-defining product. The car, now in its seventh version, remains recognizably the same vehicle, with its sloping roofline, long, low hood and prominent headlights.

Porsche was the son of former Porsche chairman Ferry Porsche, who died in 1998, and the grandson of Ferdinand Porsche, who started the company as a design and engineering firm in the 1930s.

F.A. Porsche was initiated into the family business while still a boy, spending time in his grandfather's workshops and design facilities. He joined the company in 1958, taking over the design studio in 1962.

In the 911, he created a larger, less cramped replacement for the company's first model, the four-cylinder Porsche 356. The new car, with a rear-mounted, six-cylinder engine, was originally designated the 901, but the number was changed because French competitor Peugeot claimed a patent on car names with a zero in the middle.

Porsche left the operational part of the company with other family members in the early 1970s and in 1972 founded a design business, Porsche Design Studio, where he created eyeglasses, watches and pens.

As a designer, he had a reputation as a functionalist.

"A formally harmonious product needs no decoration, it should be elevated through pure form," he once said -- a motto reflected in the lean lines of the 911.