You probably know plenty about the off-road capabilities of the Porsche Cayenne and Macan, but did you know the German performance carmaker has a long history of off-road vehicles? Dating back to the mid-'50s vehicles produced by Porsche have proven capable when the pavement ends.

In 1953, the prototype of the Porsche 597 Jagdwagen was intended to be sold to the German military. The name Jagdwagen is roughly translated as "Hunting Car." The intent of the off-road-capable machine was to compete with the likes of the Auto Union-built DKW Munga. Due to the high cost of the 597, the military went with the less expensive Munga.

Originally powering the Porsche 597 was a 1.5-liter (1500cc) flat-four engine sourced from the 356. Early on in production, the power plant was changed to the 1.6-liter (1600cc) engine. In this form, it offered 50 horsepower. As with the 356, the engine was rear-mounted.

As opposed to the latest Cayennes and Macans, the 597 was not built for speed. But it was very capable off-road, especially for the time. It featured a five-speed transmission and offered an on-the-fly two-wheel and four-wheel drive shifter. It used a short wheel-base of 2,060mm which helped it climb grades as steep as 65 percent.

Never reaching mass production, a total of 71 Jagdwagens where built from 1955-58.

Porsche created another off-road vehicle in the 1950s, although not meant for climbing the side of a mountain. Porsche tractors were produced from 1953 through 1963. In this period, more than 125,000 tractors were made.

The Porsche tractors were offered in four models — Juniour, Standard, Super and Master.

The tractor was originally designed in 1934. In 1937, the German government contracted the building of the Volks-Tractor, but due to World War II a production model would not be available for almost another 20 years.

After WWII, only German companies that had already produced tractors where allowed to continue making them. Since Porsche had not entered production with their design, they were not one of these companies. To get around this restriction, Porsche made licensing agreements with the German company Allgaier GmbH and the Austrian company Hofherr Schrantz.

The Porsche tractors were offered in four models — Juniour, Standard, Super and Master. Power outputs started at 14 horsepower and went all the way up 50 horsepower. Of the 125,000 made, about 1,000 Porsche-Diesel tractors made it to North America.

Porsche's off-road history wasn't all about slow utilitarian machines. Vehicles from the German automaker have also had great success in the world of rally racing.

Success in rally racing started with the Porsche 912. In 1967, Polish driver Sobieslaw Zasada managed a victory in the European Rally Championship for Group 1 series touring cars in a 912. The more powerful 911 would win its first rally race the next year.

In 1968, the 911 driven by "Quick" Vic Elford and Pauli Toivonen took the win in the prestigious Monte Carlo Rally. A 911 piloted by Bjorn Waldegard and Gerard Larrousse followed with Monte Carlo victories in 1969 and 1970. In 1970, a Porsche 911 also took home the hardware from the International Championship for Manufactures (the predecessor series to the World Rally Championship).

In 1973, a privately entered 911 2.7 Carrera RS Sport won at the Circuit of Ireland, which was a European Rally Championship race. In 1978, another private entry, a 911 SC of Jean-Pierre Nicolas managed to win the Monte Carlo Rally, which was part of the WRC. Porsche's second and final (at least so far) WRC victory came in 1980 at the Tour de Corse with a 911 driven by Jean-Luc Therier.

The Porsche 959 Group B car was also quite successful in rally. In 1984 and 1986, a factory-backed vehicle took home a win in the Paris to Dakar Rally.

The Porsche 959 was made from 1986 to 1993, first as a Group B rally car and later as a legal production car designed to satisfy FIA homologation regulations requiring at least 200 street-legal units be built.

All of this history eventually led to Porsche doing the unthinkable, making an SUV. In 2002, Porsche first produced the Cayenne. The idea of Porsche making an SUV was sacrilege to many purists, and quite a few predicted the end of the marque.

However, as you now know, the idea of an off-road-capable machine is not strange as Porsche has made them in the past. What Porsche hadn't done to this point was build a mass-production four-door vehicle (although the 911 and 928 both had four-door prototypes built — and remember this was before the Panamera).

Once the Cayenne — especially the turbocharged version — showed its performance, many heads where turned. It may have been based on the Volkswagen Touareg, but with reworked suspension (which got even better when the second generation appeared) and more powerful engine offerings.

While the Cayenne looked like something of a Heffalump, it was faster than many pure sports cars and had a Porsche look to it. Offering mind-blowing speed and acceleration while being capable of hauling the entire family appealed to many, and sales soared. The Cayenne also proved capable off-road, able to keep going even when the conditions get tough.

The Porsche Cayenne Turbo and Turbo S used V8 engines with as much as 550 horsepower. The S offered 335 horses, while the six-cylinder versions produced up to 286 horsepower, or 236 horsepower in the V6 diesel model.

The second-generation Cayenne appeared in 2011. It saw power bumps throughout the lineup, but in 2014 the S model got downsized and no longer offered a 4.8-liter V8. Instead, a turbocharged 3.6-liter V6 was introduced, but power outputs increased from the previous year. The second generation also saw the introduction of the E-Hybrid model, which is a plug-in hybrid that offers decent performance and better gas mileage.

Porsche's latest entrant into the off-road market is the Macan. The smaller SUV went on sale for the 2014 model year. It is based on an Audi Q5, but don't let that fool you. Porsche replaced the power train and made suspension changes, which transform it into quite a performance machine.

Powering the base Macan is a turbocharged inline 2.0-liter four cylinder offering 252 horsepower. Power outputs climb all the way to 400 horsepower and 406 ft.-lb. of torque for the Macan Turbo out of a turbocharged 3.6-liter V6.

While the Macan is mainly used for road driving by most of its owners, it can hold its own off the road. Its four-wheel drive helps you make the most of a back trail, and it is almost as capable as the Cayenne in tricky situations. It may not offer low-range gearing — only the first-gen Cayenne did — but that doesn't keep it from tackling a challenging back route. It also helps that the Macan offers more clearance than the Q5 that it shares a platform with.

Power outputs climb all the way to 400 horsepower and 406 ft.-lb. of torque for the Macan Turbo out of a turbocharged 3.6-liter V6.

Many have made comments about Porsche's newer off-road-capable vehicles not truly containing the Porsche DNA. As you can see, there is a long history of cars from the German performance carmaker continuing to drive once the road ends.

The newer vehicles add the capability to haul the family while still being able to drive at blazing speed on the track and then keep going on the trails. In many ways, the Macan and the Cayenne are the Swiss Army Knives of driving machines.