Brief History: 

Manufactured on August 7th, 1959, this 1959 356 A is one of the last 300 A’s made. Originally painted black with red Interior, she was imported to the US by Pon, Holland. I purchased her in San Diego in 1992 from Harvey Johnson, who also had a cool orange Sportomatic at the time. Harvey had recently restored her prior to my purchase and she wore Ivory paint with a red interior. It was love at first sight. Even my future wife proclaimed how much she loved “our” new car. Where she spent her life before then is beyond me. But in the 90’s she was purchased as a daily driver for a long haired college kid who could barely afford her, but had to have her. In those days she served me well with so many trips up and down the coast, to Pebble Beach, Vegas and Arizona, even several trips in to Mexico, not to mention the daily trips to San Diego State. I am not even sure how many times the odometer flipped, but it was at least twice back then. Being a starving college kid I tried to do all the work on her myself, learned a bunch and did pretty well, even rebuilt the engine with the help of some Harry Pellow “The Maestro” VHS tapes. Eventually I had to get a pro involved in keeping her maintained and came across a guy with a shop in San Clemente, pretty far from where I lived but come on I was surrounded by some Porsche snobbery, and this guy had a cool skull and crossbones logo. So a phone call later and I was off to meet with the one an only Jack Staggs. So many trips up to see him in those days, many times it was more about hanging out than it was about fixing my car. I truly learned to appreciate the Porsche Marque and how special this car was. Anyway Jack kept her running in tip top shape for many years, but living at the beach took a toll on her. Her doors were rusted through, she had acquired several dents and scratches, and the floor pans were gone, thanks to the salt water floods in Mission Beach. With a kid on the way I was able to convince the new wife that if I didn’t restore her now I may never get to. So finally the day came to restore her. Who knew that would be a ten year project, but that’s another story. In the end the results were worth it. I rarely get to drive her like I used to, but she is still my baby after all these years and Proud to be a Part of this years Air|Water event. This is her 3rd appearance at Luftgekult events.