Highlights

The fastest and most powerful Porsche 356 Speedster variant: the mighty ‘Pre-A’ GS 1500 Carrera

Eligible for the 2027 Mille Miglia Storico, the 100th-anniversary edition of the ‘World’s Most Beautiful Race’

A multiple race winner in the fiercely competitive Sports Car Club of America series in the 1950s, as documented in a wealth of glorious photos

Fastidiously restored by one of the world’s leading Porsche 356 experts in Germany

One of just 97 ‘Pre-A’ 356 Carrera Speedsters built in total and only 15 built in 1955

Powered by the legendary ‘Führmann’ four-cam engine, born in the Carrera Panamericana-winning Porsche 550 Spyders

Accompanied by its Porsche factory Kardex, Reutter Certificate and current valid FIVA Identity Card

European taxes paid and road-registered in Germany

Versatility is King

As useable and versatile classic cars go, there are few that trump Porsche’s cult-classic 356 Speedster. Its sleek and simple silhouette exudes Hollywood glamour, its air-cooled four-pot engine is best described as metronomic and its rarity all but guarantees entry to the world’s greatest classic road rallies. Think the Colorado Grand and the Modena Cento Ore. It’s as adept prowling Sunset Boulevard as it is bombing across an Alpine pass with the crisp winter air blowing through your hair.

The Speedster was famously the brainchild of Max Hoffman, the shrewd and charismatic East Coast importer of prestige European cars. Hoffman recognised that a sportier and more rakish version of Porsche’s drop-top 356 would prove popular in the United States, more specifically in the warmer climes of Southern California. And he was right: the resulting Speedster was a smash hit, selling by the boat load. If you were a someone in Los Angeles in the late 1950s, you were most likely cruising around in a Speedster.

Of the multiple iterations of the Porsche 356 Speedster, it is the earliest ‘Pre-A’ – built between 1948 and 1955 – which is the rarest. And the most desirable ‘Pre-A’ is the Carrera, powered by the legendary motorsport-derived ‘Führmann’ four-cam engine, which was born in the Carrera Panamericana-winning 550 Spyders and kicked out a generous 110HP. Just 97 were built. Beyond their power and rarity, ‘Pre-A’ 356 Speedsters are special for myriad reasons. Not least their numerous unique (and some might say purer) aesthetic features such as the oh-so-1950s split windscreen and the fact that, to Porsche disciples, they represent the very foundation of the marque.

Chassis number 81079

One of only 15 Porsche 356 ‘Pre-A’ GS Carrera Speedsters built in 1955, chassis number 81079 was dispatched by the factory to Max Hoffman’s Porsche dealership in New York in January of 1956. As its accompanying factory Kardex details, the car was finished in White over a Black leather interior. It was subsequently bought by Hoffman’s good friend Baron Daniel von Herman, the German nobleman who’d established the first Volkswagen dealership in California.

Taking advantage of his new Porsche’s motorsport-derived four-cam engine, Von Herman opted to enter chassis number 81079 in the fiercely competitive Sports Car Club of America regional series (SCCA) on the West Coast. Between 1956 and 1958, he and his friend Skip Hudson contested 11 events – and won three races outright, in San Francisco, Palm Springs and Laguna Seca. Among the events in which the Speedster took part was the legendary Pebble Beach Road Races, which attracted a roll call of great drivers from across the world. A series of wonderfully nostalgic period images of this Porsche competing in what was arguably North America’s most golden of motorsport eras accompany the car.

In the years and decades that followed, this Speedster remained in California and largely in storage, passing through the hands of several owners including the Porsche expert and racer Wayne Baker, who it’s believed sourced the car’s correct Type 547/1 four-cam engine. That was during a sympathetic restoration he’d commissioned, the wealth of invoices for which remain in the car’s history file.

Chassis number 81079 was acquired by its final private owner, a German collector with deep roots in the world of top-flight international motorsport, in March of 2012. He returned the Speedster to its native Germany for the first time since 1956. With a view to enjoying the car on a number of prestigious European historic motoring events, he charged the renowned Porsche specialist Boxer Motor in Dotternhausen with undertaking a fastidious restoration. The car was also issued with its FIVA Identity Card and its Karosserie Reutter Certificate.

Upon completion of the restoration in 2020, the invoices for which accompany the car, the owner contested both the Mille Miglia Storico and the Gran Premio Nuvolari with chassis number 81079.

On the subject of the Mille Miglia, it’s the 100th anniversary of the ‘most beautiful race in the world’ in 2027 and there’s justifiably a lot of hype around what promises to be a particularly special edition. This Porsche 356 ‘Pre-A’ Carrera 1500 GS Speedster is an ideal candidate with to take part, not least because of its documented period competition success and, of course, that potent ‘Führmann’ four-cam beneath the pert tail. Having not long been restored by one of the world’s leading Porsche 356 experts, this ultra-rare Porsche is presented in its period SCCA competition livery and in exceptionally rude health. It’s for good reason that the ‘Pre-A’ Carrera Speedster is on the hitlists of Porsche afficionados the world over…

Price Upon Application