Famous Firsts– The Porsche 356

7

Dale Vinten

Some people will say that Porsche’s first car was the Type 64, and while we could argue that case, this fledgling effort from Germany’s finest (before there even was a Porsche motor company) was ostensibly a Volkswagen, designed as it was to be a sporting version of the Beetle. Yes, it pre-dates the later 356 by almost a decade and Ferdinand Porsche is said to have subsequently stuck a Porsche name badge to the car’s front end, but we (as does Porsche itself) consider the 356 to be the first true Porsche model. That’s not to say the Type 64 wasn’t an important car. Quite the contrary. This preliminary “Porsche” – that looked more akin to an aeroplane than a car – paved the way for Ferry and helped lay the groundwork for what would become one of the most successful and revered automobile manufacturers of all time. You can see that Porsche DNA in the details; the angled headlights, the sweeping lines, the beginnings of the next half century of Porsche design.

Type 64

So why didn’t it go into production? Well, the first of three Type 64s was built to compete in the 1939 Berlin to Rome road race but then World War II broke out, putting the kibosh on any such frivolities. That original car did hang around though and despite being Ferry Porsche’s personal runabout for years the Type 64 project ultimately gave way to the post-war 356. Now working out of Gmünd in Austria and with a simple idea for a small, lighter car with more horsepower, Ferry, son of Ferdinand, began working on the very first official Porsche: 356#1.

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That original prototype featured a hand-built aluminium body designed by Porsche’s own Erwin Komenda mounted to a tubular frame chassis. Powered by a modified four-cylinder 1120cc Volkswagen motor with a single Solex carburettor the engine was initially mid-mounted rather than behind the rear axle as it would come to be known. Other parts were also pilfered from VW including various suspension components in a bid to keep costs down, something Ferry was keen to do at the beginning of the 356’s journey but it was by no means a “bitsa” car. With around 40bhp it scooped a class victory in its first race at Innsbruck in 1948, shortly after inception.

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Ferry and Ferdinand Porsche with 356#1

But Ferry wasn’t content to sit on his laurels and as that very first 356 was proving itself at the track, a second, more refined model was already being developed, a trend that would persist throughout the car’s production run. Porsche engineers moved the engine behind the rear axle (where it would stay indefinitely) which allowed for a more conventional drivetrain setup than that previously featured and the 356/2 was born. Around fifty of these cars were built in Gmünd (still by hand) before Ferry upped sticks and moved Porsche operations to Stuttgart in Germany at the end of 1949.

Here the hand-built aluminium bodies gave way to pressed steel as Porsche had commissioned Reutter coachworks to supply a number of 356 bodies, a change that not only more cost effective but also quicker. It was at this point that Komenda further finessed the design of the 356, amending the roof line and windscreen for a more aerodynamic aesthetic. Porsche would consequently acquire the Reutter company in the ’60s, minus the seat manufacturing portion of the business – a branch that would later become Recaro, who you may have heard of…

Although demand for the 356 was slow in the beginning, by the early ’50s word was out that this well-built, sporty little two-door was quite something, bolstered, no doubt, by a class win at Le Mans in ’51. A handful of the lighter, aluminium-bodied 356s were turned into race cars, three of which were intended for the French endurance race. Only one made it, however, but it was enough for Porsche to secure the 1100cc title and as we all know, motorsport success and an increase in sales figures generally go hand in hand.

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1951 also saw the introduction of more powerful 1.3 and 1.5-litre versions of the flat-four powerplant with the original 1.1-litre being phased out two years later, and in 1954 the Speedster made its debut. Essentially a stripped down version of the original 356 roadster it was inspired by a handful of unofficial “American Roadsters”. With bodies built by Erich Heuer of coach-builders Gläser Karosserie these cars were Intended for competition at a time when amateur racers drove their cars to the track, thrashed them to within an inch of their lives and then drove them home again. The Speedster, with its lower windscreen, bucket seats and minimalist interior was an instant hit. The pinnacle of this era of the 356 arrived that same year with the introduction of the race-inspired 110 hp, four-cam Carrera engine.

What came next were the 356A, B and C cars, beginning in late 1955 with two versions of the A, known colloquially as the Type 1 and Type 2 respectively. Again, this was a further refinement of the basic 356 model and featured improved suspension along with a new curved windscreen and a padded dash. The engine range was expanded with the addition of a 1.6-litre, four-cylinder air-cooled boxer unit alongside the previously mentioned four-cam Carrera engine. The B superseded the A in 1959 and consisted of two face-lifted updates, known as the T5 and T6 bodies, that featured further design tweaks, most noticeable of which were the new twin grilles on the rear boot lid.

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Beefed up 1.6-litre engines were offered and the GT Coupé topped the performance stakes with 134bhp. A 2.0-litre rounded out the new engine offerings and the car’s brakes were upgraded to discs on the Carrera 2 in ’62, along with further improved suspension. The final incarnation was the 356C in 1963, available as either a C or SC and in coupé or cabriolet form. The C engine had Zenith carburettors and produced the same 75bhp as the 356B Super while the SC used a twin-throat Solex carb setup, making 95bhp. All models now came with disc brakes all round.

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Production ceased in 1965 and although initially sharing various bits and pieces with VW, the 356 would eventually distance itself from Volkswagen and the cars would have fewer and fewer parts in common as the years rolled on. Whilst the 356 did go through various incarnations it essentially remained the same, whether coupé, convertible or roadster. Ferry Porsche’s ethos for that original 356#1 persevered and the inceptive spirit that underpinned the car throughout its lifespan was ever-present. Retaining the same air-cooled rear-engine, rear-wheel drive layout and four-speed manual gearbox throughout production the various generations of 356 are practically indistinguishable to the untrained eye, but that just goes to show how right Porsche got it first time round. Plain and simple. What followed was the 911, and we all know how that turned out.

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