In June 1942, Porsche of Stuttgart was ordered by Hitler to start designing a super heavy tank, mounting a 12.8cm gun, and having maximum possible armor. Trials were to commence in May 1943, however, many difficulties arose. For example, the air-cooled motor never materialized, and the V1 vehicle had to be fitted with a modified MB509 aircraft engine, the V2 with a MB517 diesel. The Porsche longitudinal torsion bar suspension had to be abandoned as there was insufficient space for the number of stations needed to carry the continually growing weight.

Meanwhile, an order had been placed for a production series of 150, but in October 1943, that was cancelled. The V1 prototype was tested with a simulated turret in December 12943, and with a turret and armament in June 1944. The turretless V2 started tests in September 1944, but the engine was destroyed in an accident and was not replaced until April 1945. Both prototypes were eventually blown up at Kummersdorf.

This particular 1:72 scale vehicle represents the wooden mock-up created for the German General Staff in the summer of 1944 and comes with a numbered certificate of authenticity and display case. Now in stock!

Dimensions:
Length: 5-3/4-inches
Width: 2-1/2-inches

Release Date: July 2005

Historical Account: "Folly and Serve" - Toward the end of the Second World War, Professor Ferdinand Porsche's people were working in Stuttgart, Wolfsburg, the family farm in Zell am See (Austria), and in Gmund (Austria) where the Third Reich sent the firm to avoid the Allied bombing of Stuttgart. The younger Porsche had long foreseen the outcome of the War. He had grown up anti-military and stayed apolitical through the Nazi years. The old Professor, on the other hand, was simply politically naive; he was consumed with engineering, and it's obvious that he did not mix engineering with morality despite his involvement with Adolf Hitler. If there was a sponsor for an engineering project, be it a race car or a tank, he wanted to design and build the best there ever was. Thus, while he was credited with building the diminuitive Volkswagen (People's Car), he was also responsible for many of Germany's more heinous projects, including the creation of the colossal Maus.