Porsche Outsourced the 356B Abarth Carrera GTL to Italy and It Paid Off

Porsche built its reputation in the 1950s on the 356, a car owners could drive to the office during the week and to a race circuit on the weekend. By the end of the decade, however, the Reutter-bodied coupe had grown heavier, and smaller 1,300 cc rivals from Alfa Romeo and Lotus were closing in on its lap times. The 1960 season was only months away, and Porsche concluded that no German coachbuilder could supply a lighter body in time. Ferry Porsche therefore turned to Carlo Abarth in Turin, an associate from the Cisitalia days. The resulting 356B 1600 GS Carrera GTL Abarth arrived in Stuttgart with a list of faults and went on to collect class wins at Le Mans and the Targa Florio.

An Old Friendship and a New Problem

Credit: r/sportsandclassiccars

Outsourcing a race car was not the usual way of doing things in Zuffenhausen. In 1959, however, a pressing competitive problem coincided with a long-standing contact in Italy who knew the right people to solve it.