This is one of the very last Pre-A style Speedsters, built late December 1955 and despatched in January of 1956, according to the Certificate of Authentication. This car is chassis number 81216, the final Pre-A Speedster was 81234. All other 356 models had changed over to the T1 ‘A’ specification from September 1955 but Speedster production continued for a short time with the pre-A features. As such it retains the earlier style dash, curved rocker panels and iconic 'beehive' taillights. One thing these later pre-A Speedsters did benefit from however was the adoption of the 1600 engine that was introduced with the T1 model, giving a modest increase in power over the previous 1500 version.
Although the early history of this Speedster is largely unknown, according to the documents on file the car was purchased by its last owner in March 1978 from Don Odiorne of Menlo Park California for the sum of $4,750. It is thought that at this time, Mr Ordiorne had stripped the car for restoration; this is evident from paperwork on file showing lists of spares from various Porsche 356 parts suppliers. The purchaser was Mr William H Benz, an Attorney of Law and an avid enthusiast of the Porsche marque; a fully-fledged member of the Golden Gate Region of the Porsche Club of America. At various points during his membership Mr. Benz would serve as president, treasurer, secretary, competition director, and chair of the autocross school. If you search Youtube for “William Benz Porsche” you will find a Porsche Club of America interview with Mr. Benz featuring his second Speedster, which he fitted with a 4-cam Carrera engine.
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Correspondence dating back to 1978 shows that Mr. Benz quickly set about restoring this example in a very organised fashion, with many pages of tables comparing prices of different Porsche 356 component suppliers. The cancelled USA title on file shows that the Speedster was first registered to William Benz in May of 1978 and the car was continuously registered for use until March 1999. At some point during this period, the original engine P60562 failed and was replaced by P66322 which is the correct type 1600 engine for the car.
From March 1999 until June 2015 the car was kept in a storage facility in San Jose. During this period the car was not used. In 2015 the storage facility closed and car was transported to the owner’s house where it was garaged. Unfortunately, during this time Mr Benz passed away before he had a chance to start work on recommissioning the car. Upon his death the Speedster was sold to Alex Finnigan of Paul Russell & Company who serviced the car before selling it to the current owner.
Since coming to the UK, the car has been comprehensively serviced including new brake cylinders and shoes, new shock absorbers, re-instated heater system and so on. The bonnet, doors and boot lid are all stamped with the body number in the correct places showing they are the original panels for this chassis number. Recently the car was stripped back ti bare
>> A sought after LHD example, eligible for the most prestigious events
>> One of the most useable cars of the 1950's era, powered by the glorious 100D2 Engine
>> Matching numbers, also retaining correctly stamped body panels
