The Porsche 356 was developed from a pre-war sports coupe project, relying on many VW Beetle components, a modified Volkswagen engine with a top speed of 90mph, it was the first Porsche put into serious production.
A succession of models from the initial 1100cc Coupe and Cabriolet were developed, with engine capacities up to 2 litres, 130 bhp. Reutter produced the Coupe body shells and Glaser produced the Cabriolet. Pressed steel bodypanels were welded to the box-section chassis. The Gmund 356's were produced with aluminium bodyshells until 1951. The Porsche 356's built in Stuttgart had a wider cabin and higher waistline, chrome headlight rims, split windscreen, and single exhaust outlet.
Interiors were trimmed in leather or cloth, grey head lining material was used on most Porsche 356 cars at this time.
1952 saw right hand drive Porsche 356 models produced for the first time, with a one-piece windshield that had a vertical fold in the centre.Many changes took place in that year - reclining and folding seats, sun visors, and black rubber inserts added to the bumpers to name but a few.
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The Porsche Speedster was born in 1954 with its famous anodised gold Speedster script mounted on each front wing, chrome band down the sides and bucket seats. Porsche was slowly redesigning engine components creating powerful and refined engines built to the highest specifications.
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