Porsche is now embarking on its anniversary year with the Porsche Vision 357 and a reference to the Porsche 356 – the dream of Ferry Porsche of a sports car. As an homage to this, the design study brings the monolithic form into the present day. Liberated from the regulations that apply for implementation as a series model, the Style Porsche Team manifests potential expressions of the future design philosophy: one example is the consistent enhancement of the light signature, which is both progressive and visionary in the way it points towards the future. The fundamental concept is reflective of the interplay between tradition and innovation: what would the dream of a sports car of Ferry Porsche might look like today?

The 356 No. 1 Roadster was the very first car built by the Porsche brand. With the two-seater with a multi-tubular frame and mid-engine, Ferry Porsche and his team fulfilled his dream of building his own sports car. The Porsche 356 went into series production as a coupé with a different frame and a 40-PS rear engine instead of the original mid-engine concept. This type formed the foundation for the success of the Porsche brand. After the first largely manually built cars (coupé and convertible) 356/2 with an aluminium bodyshell, Porsche moved from Gmünd back to Stuttgart at the end of 1949. This is where series production of the Porsche 356 sports car began. The sheet-steel bodies were manufactured by Stuttgart-based Reutter bodyworks while engine production began in Zuffenhausen in space rented from Reutter as Porsche Werk 1 was still occupied by the Allies.

Some 78,000 units of the Porsche 356 had been built by 1965. 356 (“pre-A”, 1948-1955), 356 A (1955-1959), 356 B (1959-1963) and 356 C (1963-1965) were available in a range of open- and closed-top body versions and various performance levels.

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