Description
Perhaps the most famous Porsche 356 model is the Speedster. Flat, light, nimble and unbelievably expensive. An extremely low windscreen, the door windows as plug-in panes, hard bucket seats and an unlined soft top radiate robust masculine sportiness. In practice, this means that the car is uncomfortable and actually unacceptable for longer journeys. The Speedster is claustrophobically uncomfortable, especially when the top is closed and the foil blinds are in place. It was also intended as a bare, then still cheapest entry-level Porsche. At some point, things changed: the fewer things there are in a Porsche, the more expensive it is.
Porsche noticed early on that the Speedster might be a bit too rustic and added a more comfortable version with the Convertible D. When switching to the B series, the Speedster and the Convertible D were dropped. Both were replaced by the Roadster. The Roadster is essentially a luxury Speedster: still light and nimble like a Speedster, but with much more comfortable seats and a taller windshield. With the top closed, this brings reasonable headroom and with the top open more wind protection. The difference from the standard convertible is also that the windshield frame is more sloped, chromed, fitted and bolted to the body. In the Cabriolet, the windscreen frame is painted in the vehicle color, is a fixed part of the body and is steeper. The side windows of the roadster are no longer soft plug-in windows, but can be cranked. The larger hood now had more headroom and a better view of the outside, even on colder days. The light door coverings without armrests and without storage pockets, as well as the beautiful, simple dashboard without a glove compartment were retained from the Speedster. With the comfortable seats, the crank windows and the higher windscreen, the roadster is almost as comfortable as a convertible, but still close to the speedster.
This 1961 Porsche 356 Roadster offered here comes in a perfectly matching color combination of ruby red with black leather and a black hood. The slightly dark ruby ??red brings out the typical shapes of the 356 in a beguilingly beautiful way. Porsche visually stretched the roadster with the chrome trim strip on the side. In conjunction with the chrome window frame, which is lower than that of the Cabriolet, the Roadster line appears even sportier than that of the 356 Cabriolet. Therefore, the roadsters are priced well above the cabriolets, not only because of their rarity, but also because of their distinctively sporty look.
This roadster came from the stocks of the well-known German-American Rudi Klein and was stripped down to the bare body shell and completely restored by the Porsche 356 specialist Jochen Herbstreuter from 2016 to 2018 in Germany. A photo documentation is available. The example delivered in 1961 with a 60 hp engine was fitted with a 90 hp engine in the course of the restoration, because its performance simply fits the characteristics of this sports car icon much better - and makes it even more fun. The final acceptance of the restoration was carried out in 2018 by the Boxermotor company.
