1956 Porsche 356A Carrera Coupe

background

From the first moment Porsche started building their inaugural 356 model in 1950 it was used in competition. Its light weight, reliability and build quality set it apart and despite the limitations of its VW-derived pushrod engine it was successful in races and rallies across the world.

In 1955 Porsche decided to do something about their power disadvantage and installed the newly designed four-cam “Carrera” racing engine from the 550 Spyder into the 356 as a top of the range Carrera model. This was realised in two forms, as the factory racer GT version and also the more luxurious GS version for the road.

history

Chassis 58162 is one of just 18 right hand drive 356A Carrera Coupes and was built at the factory in December 1956, being sold by Cooper Motors in Kenya.

Much is known of the early history of the car, not least thanks to a quite charming article in the Porsche Club New Zealand magazine “Spiel” in June 2010, written by the car’s owner of nearly 20 years, Ian Johnson, who bought the car in Nairobi after an ‘exceptionally fun test drive’ in 1965, by which time the car had been fitted with a factory sourced pushrod Super 90 engine.

The car’s first and second owners raced the car quite extensively in Kenya, winning the grandly titled East Africa GT Championship, a feat repeated by the second owner Bill Parkinson in 1964.

Ian Johnson used the car on road and track for nearly 20 years, in Kenya, Uganda and then back home in the UK too, attending many Porsche Club GB events and using the car to commute on a frequent basis.  On emigration to New Zealand, the car was sold to well-known club racer John de Lucas who raced it in the UK for many years with his daughter, Caroline in events such as the Giroflex series where they regularly competed against much more modern Porsche 911s.

The car passed to well-known Porsche 356 expert Roger Bray who restored the car for his own collection in 2008. The current owner, an enthusiastic driver of air-cooled Porsche sports cars, persuaded Roger to part with the car in 2014 and has since installed a powerful but extremely tractable twin plug road engine with approximately 130hp, more than it would have had in period.