carrera roadster ?

[Jules Dielen]

Since I don't speak Kardex, what does 88077 consist of? Is it clearly rebodied as a coupe?

no not necessarily. They used those 13xxxx vins for any replacement body, it just looks like a coupe number, but it is very possible that was a replacement roadster body. 13147 shows a date stamp, 1963.

[Jim Perrin]

Two brothers worked for Studebaker. At least one of the two was quite mechanically inclined, and liked foreign cars. The brothers got interested in the very early days in having a VW dealership. Their mother said "One of you better keep your job at Studebaker, who knows what could happen if you both quit and the new business doesn't work out!" So one continued at Studebaker while the other rented a small building and started selling VW's.
The dealership eventually grew and was quite successful, the usual story for early VW dealerships. In 1960 they purchased a brand new Porsche 356B roadster, as they wanted to race a Porsche. They converted the car at a very early point to a four-cam engine, and the car did get raced. Many years later Jerry Keyser purchased the car, probably about the late 70's or early 80's. As I recall it was yellow at the time.
Jerry had the car converted back to a push rod engine and sold the four cam engine; Vic Skirmants may have helped in the re-conversion. I don't remember the selling price for the four cam, but the engine is probably now worth 100 times what he sold it for. Jerry had the car restored by Stoddard, at which time it went through a color change to green. After owning it for a long time he sold it to Ron Thomas, who resold it a few years ago.

[David Pateman]

Two items of great interest, a 56xx replacement chassis is listed confirming that series as replacement chassis. Also the 1961 date on 13147.

[Olivier Lory]

Does anybody knows why such Roadster 87818 is called a Carrera Roadster? Kardex doesn't show anything in relation with a Carrera car or maybe this 356 is a lightweight Carrera Roadster ? One of a kind...

[David Pateman]

Olivier, you are correct that the Kardex reveals the car was not a Carrera originally, nor had any Carrera options listed.