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"It&amp;#039;s hard to be productive at work, sometimes, when you could get lost in the Road &amp;amp;amp; Track archives for hours finding obscure and interesting things. I&amp;#039;m not sure I knew that Porsche built any 4WD-ers in the pre-Cayenne era, save that Lohner-Porsche Mixte from 1900. Yet, here in the archives in a folder marked &amp;quot;Porsche Gelandewagen,&amp;quot; is the Type 597, awesomely typewritten press release and all. In typically German fashion, there are two copies of the release in German, but none in English, so what I can glean is minimal. I can tell you this: it had shift-on-the-fly 4WD, a 5-speed gearbox, and a 50 hp flat-four adapted from use in the 356. It also had &amp;quot;ein Vorderachsausgleichsgetribe,&amp;quot; whatever that is. From what I can gather, the mid-1950s saw West Germany finally start to re-equip a defensive military force, and the 597 was a proposal for a light jeep. Unfortunately for the sports car manufacturer, the expensive and advanced SUVlet was passed over in favor of the hilariously awkward DKW Munga. Porsche&amp;#039;s first SUV never made it past the prototype stage.       "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/classic-cars/news/a5285/go-news-classic-cars-before-the-cayenne-porsche-type-597/>