Erich Strenger and friends. 1960's Porche Posters

Thanks to GRAIN EDIT again, I had saved these vintage Porche posters by many of the classic sixties designers like Targa Florio 1967 - Volz, Erich Strenger, Renn Termine 1971, Atelier (studio),
Most of these images are from via AUSmotive.com via Auto kopen. The rest of the images via VP Racing.com.

But more so, this has me curious about these designers, many of whom I have never heard of. There is a lot to mine out there, clearly, and although many informed designers surely know who Erich Strenger was I didn't so here is some foundational information about him, and his work. All very interesting and good visual influence to any of you building a library of relevant influence ( both figuratively and literally). All information courtesy of racingweb.com

Erich Strenger was born december 1, 1922 in Bad Cannstatt which is a part of Stuttgart. Nowadays this part of the city is well-known among the Mercedes-Benz addicts, since the MB museum is situated here. But that's another story.

Strenger was intrested in arts and photography since his youth, so it is clear that after he finished his basic school, he started studying repro-photography. After completion of this studies, he went to the Kunststaatsakademien (Governal Art School) in Stuttgart for an artistic education. In 1942, 2 years after WW 2 broke out, he was ordered to join the German army. As a mountain trooper he staid in France, Norway and afterwards in Russia where he was taken prisoner. As Prisoner of War, he had to stay in a Russian prison environment till 1949. That's exactly when he returned to his birth-town Stuttgart.
Soon after his return in Stuttgart he noticed a little sportscar in town, which impressed him a lot and influenced his further life. That was the car of his dreams, a Porsche. Unfortunately for him, at that time, he could not afford a car like that.

Coincidentally he met Richard von Frankenberg, which at that time was working on the startup of the Porsche Marketing department. Both were attending a Miss Cover Girl election in a movie theater, and they started talking. As you understand the subject was Porsche. This coincidence soon gave birth to the Porsche Christophorus magazines, and lots of brochures and posters designed by Erich Strenger for Porsche.


In 1951 Erich Strenger designs the first poster for Porsche. Later on, the Porsche race leader Huschke von Hannstein orders posters with Erich Strenger to desing the Porsche race victories. Since Huschke von Hannstein wants the posters real quick, Strenger has to work day and night to deliver them in time. Soon at race time he starts listening to the radio, and when he hears Porsche wins the race, he starts designing a poster as he knows Huschke von Hannstein will be ordering one.



Some time later he even decides to design posters even before races are held. So one day,Huschke von Hannstein calls him in the morning to order a poster, and Strenger just has to put the name of the winning race pilot on the poster. In the afternoon, Erich Strenger visits Huschke von Hannstein and show him the poster. Ofcourse von Hannstein was surprised that designing a poster didn't take more time, and he started thinking he was paying Erich Strenger too much. Strenger was paid 1000 German Marks for the design of a poster at that time. After that, Strenger wisely decided to wait a bit longer before going to von Hannstein to show him the new designs, as he didn't want to be paid less.
In 1987 Erich Strenger retired, after he had been working most of his time exclusively for Porsche. Strenger and his wife Ursula Eberst moved to Mallorca in 1988 , where he found the quitness he always wanted. He finally had time for one of his great hobbies, sailing, and in the quitness of the sunny island he found inspiration for the art he always wanted to make.

Februar 17, 1993 Erich Strenger passed away after a long illness.