The Porsche 597 Jagdwagen was a hunter's dream; now it's a collector's dream

Many Porsche enthusiasts can say they've seen all the major models of the 356 family, from the Gmund to the C, but most would be leaving one out: the Porsche 597 Jagdwagen.

The Jagdwagen, which roughly translates to "hunting car," came out of a NATO competition to create a light army-transport vehicle similar to the American Jeep. Porsche's entry was a small, canvas-topped 4x4 that used stamped-steel body panels and a simplified 356 engine for power. Just like in the 356 itself, the engine was in the back, with Porsche using 1.5- and 1.6-liter versions of the air-cooled flat-four engine. The "top" 1.6-liter unit, fitted in later versions of the Jagdwagen, produced 50 hp, giving the vehicle a top speed of around 62 mph. With a weight of 2,182 pounds, the Jagdwagen was relatively nimble and put its horses to good use with the help of a five-speed gearbox -- a lot of gears for something like this -- and was also able to switch between two-wheel drive and four-wheel drive on the fly. With generous approach and departure angles, the Jagdwagen offered plenty of off-road ability and could even climb gradients of 65 percent. The Jagdwagen was also a little amphibious, being able to float without taking on water when needed, but it would not have been anyone's first choice for a whitewater rafting trip.

What happened to the whole project? The similar-looking DKW Munga beat entries from Borgward and Porsche in the competition, owing to even simpler engineering and build process.

Normally this would have meant the end of the project, with a few prototypes stashed away in museum, but having invested 1.8 million Deutschmarks (a lot in those days) in developing the Jagdwagen, Porsche attempted to find other uses for its 4x4. And that's where the Jagdwagen name comes from: Porsche decided to "rebrand" it for use by hunters, game wardens and forestry workers.
The automaker built about 71 examples of the Jagdwagen between 1955 and 1957 -- not exactly a 24/7 production line -- with 49 built to civilian spec and sold to owners. Sadly, precious few survive to this day, and recent auction sales have noted that only about 15 are now known to exist.

As much as we'd like to see the Jagdwagen make appearances in official Porsche videos introducing the 2019 Cayenne -- cue grainy footage with a German-accented voiceover announcing: "Inzpired by zee original Jagdwagen" -- the experiment had little lasting effect on Porsche's lineup, perhaps aside from convincing the company it was financially advantageous to sell sports cars one at a time to private owners versus dealing with high-discount government contracts.

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