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Specifications
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Stock Number
1955Porsche356-81079
Year
1955
Make
Porsche
Model
356 Carrera Speedster 1500GS
VIN/Serial Number
*81079*
Exterior
Ruby Red
(previously white)
Interior
Tan
(previously black leatherette)
Body Type
2-door convertible
Engine
1,500cc flat-4
4-cam 145hp@6,800rpm
Type 547/1
Engine No. P*90528*
Transmission
4-speed manual, engine-mounted
Trans. No. 7725 HS
Mileage
53,209
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Features |
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Comments |
This Porsche is the third of just 151 Factory-built Carrera Speedsters. It is one of of the earliest examples known to still survive. This particular Carrera Speedster was built in December of 1955. It was completed and issued a certificate of origin on January 4, 1956.
In the Fall of 1955, Porsche experimented with seven “pre-production” Carrera Speedsters fitted with various “four-cam” engines and other modifications. This was done in order to test the idea of a limited production run of cars that would be made available to select clients. The first of these was completed on September 14, 1955. The second “prototype” was built in November with the remaining five being built in early December.
Shortly thereafter, with lessons learned, a limited run of just eight “production” Carrera Speedsters were assembled in the final weeks of December 1955. As already noted, this particular car was the third of these completed.
The remaining 136 Carrera Speedsters built after January 1956 all utilized the revised 356A Speedster bodies. Today the handful of early “pre-A” Carrera Speedsters are the most highly sought out by collectors and enthusiasts alike, do to both to their extreme rarity as well as purity of design.
Externally, the only real visual difference between this car and the regular production Speedsters was the small "Carrera" script on the sides of the front wings or fenders and another found centrally on the rear of the car.
The main difference of course, is the engine which instead of being a low horsepower "push-rod" unit, is instead one of the ultra-rare high output Type 547/1 "four-cam" units. With nearly double the horsepower and significantly more torque, these were and remain some of the very best performing 356 Porsches ever conceived.
This car was originally ordered new by the official distributor, "Max Hoffman" from his offices in New York. The original exterior color was white with a standard black “leatherette” interior. The first owner and the next four subsequent owners all raced this Carrera Speedster extensively on the West Coast, mostly in and around the San Francisco Bay area. This Porsche continued to race well into the late 1970s! As such, it is regarded as “one of the oldest Carreras with the longest racing histories” known to still exist.
The original owner was a German expatriate racer who retired to the Bay Area in the early 1950s. It was his order of the car through Max Hoffmann that gave start to its long racing career. While details of the original owner are scarce, the second owner is well documented. This was the well known Porsche racer, Bob Carroll of San Francisco, California. He purchased the car from the original owner in 1964. Both he and the next fellow San Franciscan owner, Eric Jonhson, raced the car in and around the Bay Area, mostly in the regional SCCA races of the era. In the late 1960s, the car passed to its fourth owner, Peter Keys, and then shortly thereafter to Louis Lovato, who continued to race the car in Bay Area SCCA regional events well into the 1970s! Eventually the car was placed in long-term storage until it was tracked down by by marque expert, Wayne Baker of San Diego, California in August of 1991.
Baker had been on the hunt for nearly ten years for the right car for a very special engine he had purchased in the early 1980s. Back in those days, coming across an “orphaned” Carrera Four-Cam motor was no where near as rare as it is today. Baker had acquired the very first Type 547/1 356/A 1500GS Carrera Speedster engine ever built and fitted to one of these cars. This was engine No. P*90565* and was originally fitted to a 356A Carrera Speedster with chassis No. 82012. This Carrera Speedster was built in January of 1956, and as already noted was the very first 356A Carrera Speedster built. This Carrera Speedster and engine combination was sequentially completed five cars after our subject vehicle. Clearly Baker had found the right car for his engine. Luck was even more on his side as after arriving at his “Personalized Autohouse” restoration facility in San Diego, where the car was fully evaluated and found to be extremely original. The car had clearly been a racer its entire life with little to no street use. As such, the car had all of its original panels, floorboards, rockers, longtitudinals, battery-box, etc., completely intact with no sign or corrosion or rust anywhere. The front and rear bonnets, as well as the doors, all had stamped in them the numbers “079” indicating that they were original from this Carrera Speedster with chassis No. 81079.
With far too many on-going projects, Baker placed his new find back into storage along with the engine. It would remain that way for the next 12 years until he agreed to the sale of the car to Porsche 356 afficianados, Skip Shirley and Tom Davidson. With input from both Wayne and Skip, the car was methodically and meticulously restored over a five year period. Mechanical repairs and updates to the engine and gearbox internals were carefully applied and fully documented.
This car has participated in both the Colorado Grand and the California Mille without fault or incident. To date, this is the only mileage on the vehicle since the entire restoration was completed in 2005.
Clearly this is one of the very rarest and most desirable of Porsche’s legendary Speedsters. It is also likely one of the earliest surviving correct and original examples, and also one with the longest racing history.
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for Sale
