German title

Chassis no. 11350 Engine type 506

- Owned by the same family for 60 years

- Clear history

- Exceptional restoration by Hackenberg, almost 400 000 € spent

- Rare model with a 5-digit chassis number

 

 This car, one of the very first 356s built at Zuffenhausen, was delivered in 1952 by the Rossel dealership in Wiesbaden. It was finished in ‘Maron’ colour and had special horns and perforated wheels. It was bought in 1953 by the Lautensack family, who kept it for three generations and only sold it, to its current owner, in 2012. According to its service history, its first owner made a trip to Sweden, where the car was serviced on 16 June 1952 by Scania-Vabis at Södertälje, at 4,017 km. We then have the service records from Rossel in Wiesbaden up to the end of 1953, at 35,000km. After this, the Lautensack family most likely had the car serviced by another garage.

After buying the 356 in 2012, its new owner immediately entrusted it to Hackenberg in Cologne, a company highly regarded for its restorations of the Porsche 356 and 550. They carried out a restoration to a very high standard, sticking as closely as possible to the car’s original condition, using the correct materials and fabrics and with no expense spared (the total was close to 400,000 €). The result lived up to their efforts, and the 356 was returned to its former glory, with its attractive dark red paint, beige leather upholstery and a period Telefunken radio installed in its restored and fully equipped painted metal dashboard. Like most Porsches from this period, it no longer has its original engine, but a replacement of the correct type (Typ 506) with an unnumbered block.

Light and streamlined, thanks to Erwin Komenda’s futuristic design, the 356 was one of Ferdinand Porsche’s greatest successes and the first in a fantastic series which is now revered by enthusiasts. In this series, the Pre-A 356 with its two-part windscreen is a rare and historically important model, making it extremely sought after. The car we are presenting, owned by the same family for 60 years and in hard-to-match condition, is undoubtedly one of the most interesting of its kind and would make a major addition to any collection of roadgoing Porsches.

Photos © Peter Singhof