The 356 was designed by Ferry Porsche, son of founder Ferdinand Porsche, and styled by Porsche designer Erwin Komeda. The first models were manufactured in Austria and were fitted with aluminum bodywork. At this point they were all manufactured by hand. When Porsche GmbH returned to Stuttgart in 1950 bodyworkspecialist Reutter was asked to produce their new body design in steel. This collaboration between Porsche and Reutter was a great success which led to Porsche taking over most of Reutters divisions. Reutter kept control of the car seat manufacturing department, which still exists under the name ‘Recaro’.
The 356 Pre-A was manufactured between 1948 and 1955 and is recognizable by its inward placed wheels (a result of the original Le Mans design which had enclosed wheelarches for better aerodynamics), the small rear lights and the bent windscreen. The 356 Pre-A was available in coupe, cabriolet and speedster shapes.
The Porsche 356 was a huge success with 7.267 sold Pre-A’s, which gave Porsche a reason to succeed it with the 356A. This was the first Porsche with a curved instead of a bent windscreen. Apart from that the 356A was fitted with many small, but very significant changes. Popularity kept growing and in total 21.045 cars were produced between 1955 and 1959. The A was available as a coupe, cabriolet and very rare speedster.
In 1959 the A was succeeded by the 356B. The 356B received greater styling and technical changes. The 1.5L engine was replaced by a 1.6 or optionally even a 2.0L. The body was also extensively modified. From 1959 to 1962 the 356B was available with as Reutter coupe or cabriolet, known as the T5 body. In 1961 and 1962 the 356B was also available with a Karmann body, which was essentially just a cabriolet with a hardtop welded in place known as the’ Karmann Notchback’. In 1963 the 356B got a major update with an entirely new body shape called the T6. This was available with a Reutter body or a newly designed Karmann coupe body. The T6 is distinguishable by the different rear lights, a double grill above the engine, the fuel filler flap on the front right fender and the bigger rear window.
In 1964 the 356B was succeeded by the 356C. In 1964 the 901/911 was announced as the successor to the 356, but due to large demand from the North-American market the choice was made to keep producing the 356 until the end of 1965. The 356C was the first 356 with brake discs all round as standard and was available with the most powerful Porsche engine so far, the ‘SC’ with 95 BHP.
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