You have probably heard that Ferdinand "Butzi" Porsche, the designer of the legendary Porsche 911, died yesterday. He was 76. He left behind a deeply influential design firm -- Porsche Design, which he founded in 1972, after his departure from Porsche the sports-car company -- and a nearly unmatched legacy. 

What a moment that was. 

I owned a Marshall amp -- a 4-foot-tall, 50-watt half-stack built in the 1970s -- for three weeks in high school. It was, and remains, the most powerful machine I've ever bought. I sold almost everything I owned to buy it, proceeded to make myself deaf and scare the family dog into incontinence, and then sold it a few weeks later. Turns out you can't really be a happy teenager with only a bed and a guitar amp, however loud. But I wanted one badly, so I sacrificed, however briefly. 

By contrast, I have never owned a Porsche. It hasn't been for lack of trying. The 911s I want are always just out of financial reach. I suspect this is the case for most people; Porsches are not cheap cars to own, and the 911 is far from the cheapest Porsche, even used. Like that amp, any of the 911s I really want would require selling almost everything I own in order to raise enough money for a purchase. And then I'd have a 911 and a bed and -- well, not much else. But I'm driven by the memory of the first 911 I ever drove, a car that happened to be the first Porsche I ever drove. 

At the risk of repeating myself, what a moment that was. 

What is it about successful industrial design? There are so many failures, so many attempts to fly, and yet the groundbreakers -- the Stratocasters, the Marshall amps, the 911s -- always seem to come out of left field. Leo Fender built the first Strats in the early 1950s not because he wanted to create something beautiful, but because he genuinely wanted to serve musicians in a way they weren't being served. The result was gorgeous, but people thought it was an overwrought, unnecessary machine until it was picked up by the likes of Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix. Similarly, the first Marshall amps weren't anything special -- they were mildly modified versions of early Fender designs, simple contraptions that thought outside the box. Some went so far as to call Marshall's creations unnecessary, mere copies of Fender's pieces. The steeping took time.

Same for the 911, which replaced the humble 356 -- the car that Porsche purists, believe it or not, once called the only "real" Porsche. Car magazines loved the 911 at its launch, but there was a very vocal enthusiast contingent that believed it was a bad move. And like Leo Fender and Jim Marshall, Butzi Porsche wasn't trying to create lasting greatness. He was just doing what he thought was right. 

Butzi Porsche and Jim Marshall died on the same day. They were of the same age and the same generation, and they meant the same thing to a lot of people. I am one of those people. Rest in peace, guys. You'll both be missed. 

[Sources: F.A. Porsche obit/NYT (read it, he was a fascinating guy); Joe Rusz's small Butzi tribute at R&T (note the respect -- he calls him "F.A."); MarshallAmps.com (nice tribute); Jim Marshall obit/LAT (again, read it, another fascinating guy).]