The First Car That Porsche Ever Built Was Found in a Shed, Untouched for Over a Century

The world’s first Porsche hit the streets of Vienna on June 26, 1898. As it turns out, the “Egger-Lohner electric vehicle, C.2 Phaeton model” – P1 for short – has been sitting in a shed in Austria since 1902.

According to Porsche, the recovery of the original, unrestored P1, designed and built by Ferdinand Porsche himself. The vehicle ran on over 1,000 pounds of battery and weighed nearly 3,000 pounds total. It reached up to 22 miles per hour and could cover up to 50 miles in overall range.

The vehicle was found in surprisingly good condition in a shed in Austria, 2014. The motor still works, though the batteries, seats, and some of the bodywork are gone. But as the images below show, the beautifully crafted steering wheel, dashboard, and wheels have survived.

The P1 is now be on display at the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart, Germany. Blue translucent plastic was inserted to give visitors a better idea of what the car's original seating would have looked like, though the bright color may be a bit deceiving.