Is an $80,000 1957 Porsche 356A Coupe a Bargain?

At the May Gooding & Company Geared Online Auction a 1957 Porsche 356A Coupe sold for $80,300. It immediately caught my attention as these early 356A’s are normally $100,000 plus. The pre-sale estimate was $90,000 - $110,000 so even Gooding & Company thought it would sell above that $100,000 mark. It was a no reserve sale, so the market spoke saying it was an $80,000 car, not a $100,000 car.

Let’s look at why this is the case. From initial photos it is clearly not a Concours 356, but even driver 356A’s generally sell at that $100,000 mark. This 356A was finished in Fjord Green and sold through Hoffman Motors. Records are unknown until a purchase in 1973.

This 1957 Porsche 356A Coupe is a “Garage-Find” with a sunroof and its original numbered hood and deck lid. It also retains much of its original beige upholstery and the proper Sigla and Sekurit glass. A Nardi steering wheel (dated 1966) and luggage rack, as well as a proper 356A owner’s manual, workshop manual, spare parts catalog and Blaupunkt radio literature accompanies the car.

This sounds like a good buy to pickup an early A Sunroof Coupe for under $100K.

However, flipping to the other side of the car you start to see that the car requires more than a wash as bodywork starts to appear. Reading the description, you also learn that the original engine has been replaced with a later unit from a 356B and since it is a “Garage-find” it is in non-running condition.

The Gooding catalog description notes that it is an “ideal candidate for a complete concours-quality restoration, an outlaw-style build or a mechanical re-commissioning, readying it for use in numerous rallies and Porsche events for which it is eligible.”

I like to drive my Porsches so I would probably start with a mechanical re-commissioning so I could drive this early-A Coupe on the mountains road around Asheville. My long range plan might be to eventually do an outlaw-style build as I love outlaws and since this isn’t numbers matching making it an outlaw would not be destroying a quality 356A coupe.

For complete details on this 1957 Porsche 356A Sunroof Coupe, go to this link: https://www.goodingco.com/lot/1957-porsche-356-a-coupe/

Tags: Porsche 356A Coupe, Gooding & Co Porsche 356