The romantic tale of two Silver Arrows

Did you know that 2023 sees the Porsche 356 C turning 60? We think it’s a birthday still worth celebrating, even in a year with so much else going on in it. This fine example has been living in a garage in Bielefeld for more than half its life and a Porsche 912 has recently moved in with it. Two flat-fours in a shared flat sounds like a pitch for a car-related sitcom, but there is a good story behind why it’s happened.

Distinctly Peter’s Porsche: Extensive originality with an individual choice of colour were the trademarks of the restoration of the 356 in 1991, and the 1966 912 now meets these standards as well. Porsche AG

Why the 912?

But was it okay for a second Porsche to resemble its predecessor? This was one of the key questions when experts such as Erwin Komenda were thinking about Porsche styling in the mid-century era, just before the Space Age lifted off. While the engine designers soon realized that an ‘old-fashioned’ six-cylinder engine with a central camshaft would lead them astray, it took a while for them to move away from designs that, although they couldn’t deny their 901 genes, still seemed somewhat clunky.