1959 Porsche 356A 1600 Carrera GS

From 1955 up to 1964 Porsche produced less than 100 356 Carrera Cabriolet. The 356 Carrera Cabriolet was a special niche car as racers used Coupes and Speedsters. At the time, the Carrera GS Cabriolet was the most expensive 356. All of them were delivered as GS models. It is possible to say that from the 356 models the Carrera Cabriolet is one of the rarest models ever produced.

This 1959 Porsche Carrera GS Cabriolet (#152187) was delivered in July of 1959 at the Porsche factory in Stuttgart. The original owner, Linus Pauling and his wife drove around Europe for the summer and enjoyed driving the Carrera at high speeds on the Autobahn. Only 31 “plain bearing” Carreras (Coupes & Cabriolets) were made in 1959 and just a handful were 1600 4-Cam Cabriolets.

Soon, the summer in Europe was over and the car was shipped to the owner’s home in Hawaii. The Carrera Cabriolet was used as a daily driver and was serviced by a factory trained Carrera mechanic. In spite of this, the Carrera was hard to maintain. Over the next fifteen years, the car was used sparingly and finally sold in 1974.

The second owner, Brian Lum bought the car with about 27,000 miles on it. He brought the car to Scottsdale, Arizona and used the car for touring the Southwest. Brian sold the car in 1988 to Laguna Beach, California resident, Barry Brief.

Barry undertook and major cosmetic restoration on the Carrera Cabriolet from 1990-92. He contracted Don Emory to do the work. Barry had the car serviced by Andial during his ownership and he drove the car to many a Porsche gathering on the West Coast.

Since 2000, there have been three owners. None of these owners drove the car much and it was meticulously serviced at Andial in Southern California and at The Stable in San Francisco. Every panel and number matches on this Carrera GS Cabriolet and it ranks as one of the rarest Porsche’s in existence.