Porsche 356 (1948-1965)

	1948	1949	1950	1951	1952	1953	1954	1955	1956	1957	1958	1959	1960	1961	1962	1963	1964	1965
	356/1
	356/2		Pre-A						356 A				356 B T5		T6		356 C

Roadster	Roadster				America Roadster		Speedster					Convertible D	Roadster
Cabriolet	Cabriolet
Coupé	Coupé
Hardtop coupé														Hardtop coupé
	1948	1949	1950	1951	1952	1953	1954	1955	1956	1957	1958	1959	1960	1961	1962	1963	1964	1965
Windscreen (coupé/cabrio)	Split				Bent from mid year				Curved						Higher (coupe)
Front lid handle	Tiny		Small		With hole from mid year			Bigger, with crest					Big, chromed
Bumpers	Body-style				US interim-style	A-style			US overriders from mid-year	Split overriders	Exhaust through overriders		Bigger and higher
Front turn signal	Inboard the headlights					Below the headlights	With 3-blade grilles						With 2-blade grilles
Rear lamps	Single		Rectangular + round			Two, round				Tear shaped from mid-year
Tranmission	Crash box					Syncromesh
Wheels	16" wheels								15" wheels
Side rockers	Inwards curved rocker panels								Flat rocker panels
Lic. plate light	Above license plate									Below license plate			Two lamps
Front lid	Round front end												Flatter		Straight front end
Front fenders	Curved shape viewing from side and from top												Headlights higher, straight front end
Script on nose	Porsche script on nose
Rear lid	Single grille														Two grilles
Brakes	Drums																Discs

Porsche engineering company had designed cars for other companies for a long time, but it was finally in 1948 that a first "Porsche" was made under the leadership of Ferdinand Anton Ernst "Ferry" Porsche, the son of Ferdinand Porsche. At that time Porsche company was located in Gmünd, Austria. Today we call the first mid-engined Porsche roadster as 356/1 (or 356 no. 1) to distinguish it from the rear-engined Porsches that followed. The 356/1 and the 356/2 cars built in Gmünd had aluminium bodies.

The production soon switched to Stuttgart in Germany. The series production didn't allow the use of handmade aluminium body panels, so, the cars were made of stamped steel panels. The first Stuttgart-built 356 have later been called as 356 Pre-A. These cars have either two separate windscreen glasses like the 356 built in Austria, or a sharply bent windscreen glass!

It was in 1953 that a racing car called America Roadster was built in small series. Considering it had an aluminium body, it is even more desirable than the 356 Speedster that followed it.

During the 356 A generation, a few cars were already fitted with the 4-cam Carrera (racing) engines in the size of 1.5-litre and 1.6-litre. Although the 356 had different "generations" up until 356 C, the biggest change to the body design happened during the 356 B generation. The earlier 356 B cars had a body called T5 and the later cars had a T6 body. The 356 C, too, had the T6 body. The main new thing with the 356 C were its disc brakes.

The flat-4 engines in the 356 evolved from single camshaft 1.1-litre to the 4-cam 2-litre Carrera 2 available for the 356 B T6 and the 356 C.

Although the 356 sales numbers were rising almost year by year, and a whopping 50% in 1964, the plans were already set and the 356 was dropped to make room for the series production of the 901 (911) in the end of 1964.

1948 Gmünd, Carinthia, Austria. Exterior designer Erwin Komenda, Ferry Porsche, Ferdinand Porsche, 356 no.1 (35 hp, 585 kg / 1290 lbs, 135 km/h / 84 mph).© Porsche

356 no.1: only one car was made with this design and with mid-engine© Porsche

1948 Porsche 356/2 with aluminium body© Porsche

1948 Porsche 356/2 Cabriolet with aluminium body by Beutler© Porsche

1951 Le Mans 24h: 356 SL (Super Light) #46 of Auguste Veuillet/Edmond Mouche scores 20th overall (and 1.1-litre class victory) with average speed of 73 mph/118 kmh compared to the winner's 93 mph/150 kmh. © Porsche

Aluminium bodied 356/2 Gmünd Coupé for Le Mans: 1.1L 46 hp, 640 kg / 1410 lbs. The restored car shown here has the racing numbers with wrong font.© Porsche

1952 Le Mans 24h: 356 SL #50 Auguste Veuillet/Edmond Mouche - 11th overall (1.1-litre class winner)© Porsche

1955, Merano, Italy. 356 no.1 on Porsche gathering. Look how modified it is 7 years after its birth - gone are the rear bumper and eye-shaped rear lamps. New are the round-shaped lamps and engine cover grille. And the paintwork, of course. Later in its life, the car was restored back to its initial look.© Porsche

1956 March: 10.000 Porsches made© Porsche

1958 356 A 1600 GS Carrera Hardtop, Ferry and F.A. Porsche© Porsche

1958 New York. 356 A, Ferry Porsche and his son, F.A. Porsche.© Porsche

Available for the late 356 A, the Porsche-badged wheel hub cap is here shown on a 356 B© Porsche

Ferry Porsche with 356 B T5 (produced 1960-1961)© Porsche

1994 September 19. Ferry Porsche on his 85th birthday in a 1948 Porsche 356 no.1 which he had created.© Porsche

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Anniversaries: Apr, 25 – 90th birthday of the Porsche company (1931); May, 09 – 35th birthday of the 961 (1986); May, 10 – 78th birthday of Wolfgang Porsche (1943); May, 14 – 60th birthday of the 787 (1961); May, 15 – 39th birthday of the 956 (1982)