The Porsche 356 officially debuted at the 1949 Geneva Motor Show: it mounted the VW 1.1 engine developed and brought to 40 HP from the original Typ 64 and during the year, thanks to an agreement with the Reutter body shop in Stuttgart, it obtained a supply of industrially produced bodies, although in steel and no longer in aluminum.
At the end of 1955 the 356 project was substantially revised and completely updated, reducing the use of parts of Volkswagen origin.
The 356A made use of various evolutions for the chassis, suspension and engines. The 1.5 grew and went to 1.6 liters, in 60 and 70 HP variants and in '56 10,000 units were produced.
In 1957 a new series, the T2, arrived, which was characterized by a list of changes to lights, instruments and equipment, but without any new features to the engine range that had already definitively retired the original 1100 the year before.
The 356A also welcomed the first high-performance version, which arrived with an engine initially developed for racing use: it was a completely new and very sophisticated 1.5, with four overhead camshafts, which led the 356 RS to win the Carrera Panamericana in '54 and was introduced into the range for '56 on a road model called 1500 GS (Gran Sport) Carrera with 112 HP, also Cabriolet.

The Porsche 356 A cabriolet version, the protagonist of our report, can be admired for sale at our OldCar24 stand in pavilion 5, from 9 to 13 April 2025 at Techno Classica Essen.