It took the knowledge Ferdinand had gained while designing the pre-war Type 64K10, an aerodynamic, lightweight, rear-engine racer built for a race from Berlin to Rome that was never run, a key contract with Volkswagen for access to its components and distribution system, and the exterior designs of Erwin Komenda to make it all happen. Still, even Hans Ledwinka would've approved: a rear air-cooled engine, swing-axle suspension, streamlined design ... like a Tatra, and a Beetle, but something new, something different and beguiling, emerging into a bleak world from a minuscule hamlet, away from the bombs, away from the prisons, where the Porsches were free to do what engineers do.