Porsche 356 1948 and Porsche Speedster

Porsche 356

What is your favorite sports car of all time?

Porsche began building the 356/1 around 1948 at their establishment in Gmund, Austria. This first car used a 1131cc Volkswagen flat-four engine mounted ahead of the rear axle which it drove via a four-speed gearbox. The mechanics went into a tubular space frame, there was independent suspension all-round, and the open -body was hand-built in aluminium. It was low, sleek and stylish and formed the basis of the first true production cars, the 356/2s. They differed a great deal from the prototype as the engine was mounted behind the rear axle and the space frame had been replaced by a welded sheet steel platform.

Porsche Speedster

With its dumpy body and tiny windscreen, the Speedster is often compared to an inverted bath tub. It is nevertheless one of the company's great cult cars and is today highly prized by collectors. Due to its lack of trim, the Speedster was very light and thus very quick and was popular on race tracks. It appeared in 1956 as the brainchild of Max Hoffman, Porsche's East Coast American distributor. He suggested the factory strip down a car to get it below $3,000 but still keep it comfortable and able to be used for the street. At this price it could compete with other sports cars like the Austin Healey, Triumph TR3 and the Corvette.

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