{"id":3442,"date":"2020-06-19T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-06-19T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.secret-classics.com\/porsche-356-america-roadster-2\/"},"modified":"2020-10-09T16:44:40","modified_gmt":"2020-10-09T16:44:40","slug":"porsche-356-america-roadster-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.secret-classics.com\/en\/porsche-356-america-roadster-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Porsche 356 America Roadster"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As is well known, Porsche presented the first own sports car 356\/1 with a mid-engine layout in 1948 and one year later presented the project 356\/2 as Coup\u00e9 and Cabriolet with rear engine  into series production. After the first 50 units with aluminium body came off the assembly line in Gm\u00fcnd, Austria, the company moved back to Stuttgart, where a new production facility was built in the district Zuffenhausen in the immediate vicinity of the coachbuilder Reutter. There, the bodies of the 356 were now built in steel construction, with Porsche taking over this part of the company in 1963 and Reutter since then only developing and selling seats under the name Recaro. While early series vehicles of the 356 were reserved exclusively for the European market, exports to overseas countries soon began. Especially the US-Americans had a high demand for small sports cars for club sport races at that time.

Among the many importers in the early days, one name stood out that car fans knew from various other sports car projects in the 1950s: Max Hoffman. This resourceful businessman was born in Vienna\/Austria in 1904. In 1941 he started his own business in New York with a shop for costume jewellery and after the end of the war he started importing European vehicles. At peak times he had sales contracts with more than ten brands in parallel. In addition, inspired by the wishes of his US customers, he constantly suggested new models in Europe. Examples are the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL or the BMW 507, but one of his earliest orders went to Porsche. Although the 356 was a decent sports car with which Hoffman was able to achieve various racing successes, many interested parties wanted a more spartan and cheaper entry-level model.<\/p>\n\n\n

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