Porsche 356 (1948-1965)

1948 | 1949 | 1950 | 1951 | 1952 | 1953 | 1954 | 1955 | 1956 | 1957 | 1958 | 1959 | 1960 | 1961 | 1962 | 1963 | 1964 | 1965 | |
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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.




















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