two colors specified on Kardex

[Martin Benade]

Did he sometimes remove the hardtop?

[Cliff Murray]

Did he sometimes remove the hardtop?

I don't ever remember the car without the top.

[Martin Benade]

Do you know why he chose that over a coupe? Personally I am sorry I have a cabriolet because it lacks that beautiful coupe roofline. On a warm summer night I can overlook that though.

[Cliff Murray]

Do you know why he chose that over a coupe? Personally I am sorry I have a cabriolet because it lacks that beautiful coupe roofline. On a warm summer night I can overlook that though.

I will have to ask him. He owned an Austin sedan, then a MG TF, then a TR3. He saw his first 356 sometime in the 50s when he was in NYC on a business trip. I think he had to wait awhile until he could afford a Porsche. The Cab/hardtop may have been cheaper than a coupe. His 61 and 63 and 912 and 911 S were all coupes. The 912 was supposed to be an SC Cabriolet but Porsche sent him one of the very first 912s instead. He was not happy about that. He bought the new 59 from a Chrysler Plymouth dealer a mile or two from our apartment. We had no garage until we moved in 1964 so the hardtop stayed on especially since he used it every day for business. Maybe the dealer gave him a great deal. After that car he bought his cars from a Porsche only dealer.

[Michael Branning]

Do you know why he chose that over a coupe? Personally I am sorry I have a cabriolet because it lacks that beautiful coupe roofline. On a warm summer night I can overlook that though.

I will have to ask him. He owned an Austin sedan, then a MG TF, then a TR3. He saw his first 356 sometime in the 50s when he was in NYC on a business trip. I think he had to wait awhile until he could afford a Porsche. The Cab/hardtop may have been cheaper than a coupe. His 61 and 63 and 912 and 911 S were all coupes. The 912 was supposed to be an SC Cabriolet but Porsche sent him one of the very first 912s instead. He was not happy about that. He bought the new 59 from a Chrysler Plymouth dealer a mile or two from our apartment. We had no garage until we moved in 1964 so the hardtop stayed on especially since he used it every day for business. Maybe the dealer gave him a great deal. After that car he bought his cars from a Porsche only dealer.

What a great lineup of cars! Surprised and glad to hear he’s still around. What stories he must have to tell. My dad’s first Porsche was a 924, but at least I learned to drive a manual on it and got the 356 bug by seeing one at the shop where it got frequent repairs.

[Cliff Murray]

BaT has a 1958 Cab/hardtop listed with many factory options. https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1958- ... briolet-6/

[Cliff Murray]

You missed this one for only $230,000 Australian, patina included. https://www.msn.com/en-au/motoring/enth ... PY_m6fACQc

[Jim Breazeale]

@jules: it was delivered to USA, not south africa. thank you for the hardtop possibility confirmation !

@William: here it is ! (I just anonymized the initial owner & key number)
As you can see there is no mention of hard nor soft top.
Could you elaborate your thoughts about vinyl cord and leather deletion ?

@cliff: thank you for the feedback!

58 and 59 Cabriolets that came with just a hard top were marketed as "Hardtops". A separate model. That is why the hard top is not listed as an option. They often had a different color hard top.

Regards

Jim

[Richard Emerson]

Kardex stating vinyl-cord almost certainly -- in absence of a specific deletion of leather note -- indicates the car was delivered with a hardtop and not a soft. Can you display entire Kardex?

While I know this to be true, isn’t it unusual?

I would have thought vinyl would fare better under dun snd rain while leather should be protected by a hard top.

Is this not the case, given vinyl from the 1950’s, or was there some other logic?

[Joris Koning]

BaT has a 1958 Cab/hardtop listed with many factory options. https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1958- ... briolet-6/

That car was for sale at the phoenix club swap 3-4 years ago. Was very tempted at the time. Should have pulled the trigger

[Trevor Gates]

BaT has a 1958 Cab/hardtop listed with many factory options. https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1958- ... briolet-6/

That car was for sale at the phoenix club swap 3-4 years ago. Was very tempted at the time. Should have pulled the trigger

Southern California 356 Club, Winter 2019 magazine cover car:
https://www.356club.org/galleries/cover ... e-gallery/

[Jules Dielen]

I have known the Bat car for 20 years. The restoration took 2 decades (it sat in the owners garage in AZ) so by the time the car was finished most of the installed parts were already old. The paint was old 15 years ago but it had great bones and has fantastic options.

The long term owner sold it at a local car show 3 weeks before it was offered for sale at the phoenix club.

[William Block]

In my collecting of CoAs and Kardicies I have consistently seen hard top only 356 convertibles have vinyl (not leather) seats and no Tenax fasteners. Soft top convertibles came with leather. Yes I see both are counter intuitive. See the rebate on a soft top cab when vinyl was specifically specified.
''57/'57 356A-T1 Reutter cabriolet #61868
616/1 P*66772*
644 15986
Orange (5711)/beige-door rails red/beige/top
Sonderausführung: 2990.00
'Dunlop' tire
Sonderlackierung 26.20
USA Stoßstangen 38.10
1 Schlumerrolle in Kunstleder 11.50
1 Cordleinentashe 15.25
Kunstlederpolsterung -29.75 ********
Built 57.08.16 del Factory Zuffenhausen, GERMANY
Haig Haleblian, IL hhaleblian@yahoo.com; original owner Kenneth Leitgabel, WI
Aug 17, driver, direct (Certificate of Authenticity/356TALK)

[Bill Sargent]

I own a December 58 build 59A cab, #151489. When I purchased the car in 2009 the owner said he purchased it in 1979 with only a hardtop and then later purchased a soft top. Neither an early 90s COA nor the Kardex mentioned the hardtop, although the Kardex did say leather interior. The Kardex & COA only listed miessen blue as the color. The hardtop was still ivory. So I always wondered if it was a hardtop only delivery.

A few months ago I received the Reuter booklet for the car which finally confirmed it was a hardtop only delivery. Car was originally miessen blue with an ivory hardtop.

[Yann Hirou]

Thank you all for the useful comments & feedbacks.

I'll buy the Reutter certificate of production to have confirmation & details.