from sister site Motor1... https://www.motor1.com/features/154459/porsche-356c-garage-find/ Image Unavailable, Please Login
There is something magical about 356s....especially the convertibles for me. Impossible to explain, kinda funky, underpowered, devoid of fluff and frill...yet somehow organic, primal and visceral. Someday I'd like to buy one. Of course my first car was a '72 VW Super Beetle...so that may have something to do with it. Loved that little car. Lived in New Hampshire and nothing could stop that car....except when I blew the engine on rt 495 outside of Boston.
A couple recent as of last week. Not for sale. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
I'll never understand how people let them rot and decay when there are plenty of us who would restore them and get them back on the road. Doesn't make any sense
Easy. Original owner dead. Family members don't realize that grandpa's old junker is actually worth something. Happens all the time.
They belong to a good friend. The red one was a car I used to run around in during the early 90's in Atlanta. Sadly it got put on the back burner during a divorce. He was lucky to keep it. The second one is a car he bought for parts several years ago before the run up in prices. He is putting it back in covered storage, hopefully soon. He bought it pretty well rusted out for the engine.
The brown car is a survivor. A rusted car (a typical coupe) will require a lot of money to properly restore and will most likely result in the new owner becoming financially upside down after the mechanical and cosmetic work have been completed. I would assume you cannot find many rusted Speedster donor cars available for restoration. The Speedster restoration candidates have almost all been located and returned to mint condition examples. Years ago, a photo of a red Gmund Coupe barn-find floated around on the internet. At the time, the owner was not interested in money. A rusted 300SL Gullwing on Cuba, was recently shipped to Germany, for restoration .
Right now I know of a stash of 356 coupes and spiders owned by one local dude, he's been hoarding and gathering for years. Also has early 912's and 911's. All original cars, nothing restored. Some in decent condition too. Have no idea what his end game is? Seems valuations aren't necessarily shooting straight up anymore? Also knew of an original owner speedster that had an engine fail and became a project...still undone. Car has about 25k original miles and garaged since new!! Not sure if anything has been done with it in the past few years as I have fallen out of contact with the owner. They are out there, especially in my 'hood!
This could be an opportunity in the future. I would assume some of the owners do not leave detailed information about the cars and the families dispose the vehicles in an inappropriate manner. Approximately 15 years ago +/-, I was tasked to buy a gallon of milk at the local supermarket. I glanced a few pages from a collector car auction magazine. Someone listed a Porsche 904/906 at no reserve, in a muscle car auction. The car sold for around 150K. At the time, this was Diablo money .
