1957 Porsche 356A Carrera GS

Background

From the first moment Porsche started selling its 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 the car’s power disadvantage and installed the newly designed 1,500cc four cam “Carrera” racing engine from the 550 Spyder into their revised 356A as a top of the range Carrera model. This gave the new car over 30% more horsepower and a top speed that nudged 200 km/h. 

Initially produced as a single model, Porsche found it difficult to satisfy the conflicting requirements of Carrera customers who wanted to race their cars with those who did not. So, it developed two versions, a deluxe road car termed the GS, and a stripped-out racer called the GT. From a total 356A production run of over 20,000 cars, Porsche made only 439 356A Carrera’s. Of these, just 17 were built in right-hand drive. 

History

This 356A Carrera GS was ordered in 1957 by Laurie O’Neill, the owner of the Porsche distributor in Sydney, Australia, as his personal car. It was a VIP special request via Hamilton in Melbourne who were the main importer. O’Neill was well known in the Australian automotive world for both his talent behind the wheel and the quality of his car collection. 

It was anticipated that his Carrera would attract the right sort of attention to the Porsche brand, so it was ordered with an eye-catching specification. The colour specified was Glacier White, a subtly attractive shade that contains a slight hint of pastel green, hence the nickname for this car by its current owner as “Minty”. The interior was traditional red vinyl but “bench’ type front seats with headrests marked it out from the norm. 

Other luxury options included “knock-off” chrome Rudge wheels, a sunroof, Telefunken radio and electrically operated aerial, US-style bumper overriders and front window air deflectors. Sadly, Porsche were unable to fulfil O’Neills wish for an in-car television to be installed. Regardless, the car was the very highest specification possible at the time and the best ever delivered to Australia, in recognition of Mr O’Neill’s efforts to sell Porsche cars.

Mr O’Neill retained the car in his collection for a number of years where it sat alongside other greats such as his Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato, Mercedes 300 SL Gullwing, Ferrari 250 LM, Ford GT40 and Jaguar XKSS. It passed through several owners before being bought by Pat Burke in 1983. Burke had the car fully restored before selling it in show condition to Phillip Schudmak in 1994. At this point the car had never left Australia, but Mr Schudmak took it to California in 1998 to participate in Porsche’s 50th anniversary celebrations. While there the car  15 was displayed at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. Later that year, Mr Schudmak sold the car to the Bowden family, well-known Australian collectors and dealers in classic cars. The Carrera stayed in their collection for the next 16 years before being bought by the current owner in 2014.

The car was shipped to the UK to join the owner’s substantial collection of exceptional right-hand drive Porsches. The car’s first restoration was now 30 years old and starting to show its age, so he commissioned internationally recognised 356 experts Sportwagen Limited of Southend, UK to re-restore the bodywork. While that work was underway, the engine was sent to Karl Hloch in Schorndorf, Germany to be completely rebuilt. The restoration took two years and was completed in 2018.

Specification and Condition

The recent restoration involved completely stripping the car and taking it back to bare metal. Sportwagen observed the chassis to be in generally good condition having spent its life in the dry Australian climate. There was evidence of the 1980s restoration work but the vast majority of the sheet metal was original. 

The shell was repainted in the original factory colour of Glacier White. All the running gear was refinished to concours standards. The original vinyl interior had previously been reupholstered to a high standard in leather so this was refitted.  

No expense was spared during the restoration process and the finished car now possesses that jewel like quality that the very best 356s exhibit. It has been sparingly used since completion and remains unmarked and faultless. In preparation for sale the car has recently been tuned and fully serviced by Maxted-Page Limited.