1963 Porsche 356 Carrera 2 Coupe

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Cosmetically and mechanically restored to concours levels
Original color combination of Slate grey over red leather interior
Zuffenhausen award winner at the 2009 Porsche Parade
Has Kardex and owners manuals
One of 310 Carrera 2s made in 1963

The Porsche 356 Carrera 2 was nothing short of an astounding advancement of performance and technology when it was released for the first time in 1961. This state-of-the-art performance didn’t come cheap, as it was the most expensive car that Porsche had ever built. The crown jewel of the entire car, the 2-liter quad-cam masterpiece of an engine put out an impressive 130+ horsepower, a nearly 37% increase in power over a regular 356.

This 1963 Carrera 2 was completed at the Porsche factory on July 11th, 1962. The Slate grey over red leather interior 356 Carrera 2 was imported by Autogerma of Bologna, Italy. The first owner, Giuseppe M., took delivery of the car on July 28th, 1962 to Parma, Italy. The Carrera 2’s Kardex shows that it was regularly taken to be serviced, accumulating 32,311 miles in just 4 years (52,000 kilometers). The Carrera 2 would then move onto the second documented owner on the Porsche’s Kardex, Carlo La Spezia.

Sometime between Carlo owning the car and 1989, the car was imported to the United States. Jim Wellington of Rennsport Werke began restoring the car before offering it for sale. This included a full mechanical restoration which included a major engine rebuild of the famous 4-cam engine, transmission and other mechanicals. In July of 1989 Bruce Smith of Berkeley, California purchased the car and went on to own the car until 2005, becoming the longest owner since the Carrera 2 rolled off the Porsche factory line. Reid Vann of Ladue, Missouri purchased the car in 2006, using it very little before Road Scholars of Durham, North Carolina acquired the car in 2007.

Understanding that the Carrera 2 was a very special car and was a milestone for Porsche, Road Scholars decided to do a complete concours-level restoration on the car. The entire car was stripped down to bare metal, revealing that the original sheet metal was in excellent condition and needed very little work. Autobahn Interiors took the Carrera’s original interior and recovered it in its correct hue of red leather. The engine was rebuilt by four-cam veteran Chris Powell, of Chris’s German Auto Service. Each and every system was thoroughly inspected and gone through to ensure proper functionality and correct appearance.

Road Scholars finished the restoration of the rare and stunning Carrera 2 in 2008 and took it to the 2009 Porsche Parade in Keystone, Colorado. The Carrera 2 amassed a total of 296.2 points of out 300, more than enough to nab the prestigious Zuffenhausen Award for Road Scholars.

Now offered by Canepa, this 1963 Porsche 356 Carrera 2 represents a special time for Porsche’s development. The most advanced 356 ever made, the Carrera 2 made a lasting impact and would change the idea of what kind of performance could be packed into the timeless design. Completely restored both cosmetically and mechanically, winner of the famous Zuffenhausen award one of only 310 examples built in 1963, this 356 Carrera 2 is the chance of a lifetime to own a piece of early Porsche performance.

About the Carrera 2
Introduced in the autumn of 1961 at the Frankfurt Auto Show, the 2-liter Carrera II became the first Porsche production car to have disc brakes. Numerous additional cooling vents were among the recently introduced improvements, but most attention was focused on the new 1,966cc four-cam engine. This produced 130bhp (DIN) at 6,200rpm, and while the Carrera’s top speed increased only slightly to around 125mph, there was a marked improvement in acceleration despite the newcomer’s greater weight, the 0-100mph time being cut from 33.5 seconds to 27.2. The Carrera II had been introduced part way through 356B production, and continued virtually unchanged after the 356C’s arrival in 1963.

The Fuhrmann-designed Carrera 4-cam engine, Type 587/1, with 130 hp, was very complex, and it took an experienced factory mechanic using brand new parts nearly 100 hours to assemble. This was an expensive venture for any car company, let alone one as small as Porsche. The 356B Carrera 2 Cabriolet cost around $8,000, almost twice the cost of a similar pushrod-engined Cabriolet, by far the most expensive road car Porsche had ever produced, and probably the most costly to build. As a comparison, a new Cadillac Eldorado convertible cost just over $6,000. Obviously, this was a hard car to sell at those numbers, which accounts for its scarcity and exclusivity today.

'The car's acceleration is truly exhilarating,' enthused Road & Track magazine. 'The clutch takes quite a bit of throttle without protest, and when one finds that it is time for 2nd gear, down comes the stick in a flick, more acceleration, and other cars pass as in reverse. High up in the speed range this is it-the effortless superiority of the true high-performance machine.'

- 1,966 CC DOHC Flat 4-Cylinder Engine
- Dual Solex 40PII-4 Downdraft Carburetors
- 130 BHP at 6,200 RPM
- 4-Speed Manual Gearbox
- 4-Wheel Annular Disc Brakes
- Independent Front and Rear Suspension