Coys Auction - True Greats
Royal Horticultural Halls
Elverton St
Westminster
London SW1
Tuesday 1st December 2009
Registration Number: BPR 558A Chassis Number: 157828
Very few automotive designs have been as influential as Porsche’s 356. Challenging the idea of the conventional sports car, its engine was in the ‘wrong’ position and not cooled by water, the wings and headlamps were integrated into the body and there was no radiator grille up front. The resultant aerodynamic shape allowed extremely high performance from a small engine, as demonstrated by class wins at the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1951 and ‘52. In 1959, Porsche introduced the best 356 yet, the ‘B’. Aside from the ferociously expensive four-camshaft Carrera’s, engines came in three states of tune with 60, 75 or 90bhp.These first generation B’s were known as T-5’s and two years later in 1961, the bodywork was revised to T-6 specification. It now incorporated a larger windscreen; twin cooling grilles on the engine cov