As useable and versatile classic cars go, there are few that trump Porsche’s cult-classic 356 Speedster. Its sleek and simple silhouette exudes Hollywood glamour, its air-cooled four-pot engine is best described as metronomic and its rarity all but guarantees entry to the world’s greatest classic road rallies. Think the Colorado Grand and the Modena Cento Ore. It’s as adept prowling Sunset Boulevard as it is bombing across an Alpine pass with the crisp winter air blowing through your hair. The Speedster was famously the brainchild of Max Hoffman, the shrewd and charismatic East Coast importer of prestige European cars. Hoffman recognised that a sportier and more rakish version of Porsche’s drop-top 356 would prove popular in the United States, more specifically in the warmer climes of Southern California. And he was right: the resulting Speedster was a smash hit, selling by the boat load. If you were a someone in Los Angeles in the late 1950s, you were most likely cruising around in a Speedster. Of the multiple iterations of the Porsche 356, it is the earliest Pre-A and As which are the most rare and therefore the most desirable. Beyond their rarity, these 356s are special for myriad reasons. Not least their numerous unique (and some might say purer) aesthetic features such as the oh-so-1950s split windscreen and the fact that, to Porsche disciples, they represent the very foundation of the marque. Chassis no. 82948 As per the accompanying Porsche Certificate of Authenticity, this 356 A 1600 Speedster – chassis number 82948 – was built by Reutter in January of 1957, finished in Ultramarine Blue over a Beige leatherette interior. It was equipped with a sealed beam headlights, American bumpers and a tonneau cover. The car was delivered new to the East Coast of America, which is where it would remain for 61 years. There are two salient points to chassis number 82948’s American history. Firstly, from the mid-1970s until 2005, it remained in the possession of a single Connecticut-based collector. Secondly, in 2009, this Porsche was comprehensively restored by Raymond Kenneth of BTO Autoworks in New York. During the exhaustive project, the car’s engine and transaxle were rebuilt by the renowned New York Porsche specialist Hayland Engineering and the Beige interior was beautifully retrimmed by European Auto Upholstery. Chassis number 82948 returned to Europe – and indeed Germany – for the first time in 2018, where it was acquired by one of Germany’s most prominent automotive collectors. He actually registered the car in the United Kingdom, where it was assigned the number it retains to this day. Though its final private owner was a Spaniard living in Madrid, he kept the Speedster UK road-registered. In September of 2019, almost 50,000 Swiss francs were spent on servicing the car under the careful consideration of a revered Swiss collector-car dealer. Today, chassis number 82948 presents as an exquisitely restored fully matching-numbers example of the beloved 356 Speedster formula that transcended the Porsche world and came to embody the 1950s Hollywood Jet Set. Having thoroughly inspected the car, we can confirm the presence of all its original factory identification markings, including every Reutter body number. And it’s accompanied by its jack set, tonneau cover, folding fabric roof, side screens and its Porsche Certificate of Authenticity. Fresh from a mechanical service, chassis number 82948 is ready to contest any of the classic road rallies across the world for which it’s eligible, including the Mille Miglia, Colorado Grand and the Modena Cento Ore.