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Given the snappy good looks and excessive charm of this green Porsche 356, it is little wonder the car has racked up nearly one million miles.
“Well Loved”
1959 Porsche 356 – carsforsale.com | Shop 1959 Porsche 356 on Carsforsale.com
As classic cars age, individual examples still on the road tend to accumulate miles. But rather than serving as a detraction, the steady scroll of the odometer is a testament to driving enjoyment dispensed and motoring memories made. The old salesman’s phrase calling a car “well-loved” is not necessarily a euphemism. To attain nearly a million miles, a car must be both tough and pampered. It is a reciprocal relationship. The car gives the owner joy. In return, the owner gives the car what it needs to keep all four wheels on the road and turning.
Today’s Cool Car Find is a 1959 Porsche 356 nicknamed “Greenie” carrying 974,302 miles. But before we dig into this car’s extraordinary history, we will look at the history of the 356 and what makes it a car worthy of such devotion.
Where It All Started
The 356 was Porsche’s first production car, debuting in 1948. In the late 1940s, the Porsche factory in Stuttgart Germany was occupied by Allied forces and in use as a truck depot. Ferry Porsche, son of Dr. Ferdinand Porsche, began work over the border in Gmünd, Austria producing tractors and other farm equipment. A contract to build a racecar inspired Ferry to design his own lightweight road car, along with the help of engineer Karl Rabe and designer Erwin Komenda.
The resulting car was the 356. It followed the basic formula laid down by the Volkswagen Beetle (designed by his father) with a four-cylinder air-cooled boxer engine positioned in the rear. The first fifty Austrian-built 356s were mid-engine and aluminum-bodied. In 1950, Porsche was able to move back to Stuttgart. The 356 was surprisingly popular among buyers and to decrease production time on the mostly hand-built cars, Porsche shifted the engine all the way to the rear, just like the Beetle, and swapped aluminum body panels for steel.
Porsche continued to refine the 356 for the next decade-plus of production. The 356’s run finally ended in 1963.
This Cool Car Find
One 356, sold in 1959 to Robert Turano of Rockville, NY, has spent over sixty years on the road and accumulating an astounding 974,302 miles. Where most vintage Porsches are kept cloistered in temperature-controlled garages, the long-time owners of this 356, King and Carol Clemons, chose to enjoy their car by *gasp* driving it.
According to the seller, King Clemons came across the car when a watermain break forced him to detour from his usual route on the interstate. This brought him past a house with over 20 Porsche 356s sitting in the backyard, where he spied a green 356 convertible he thought he liked. After a month of negotiating, he purchased the car and had it restored.
From here, the 356 the Clemon’s dubbed “Greenie” became a favorite for road trips. Among its many sojourns were an especially long jog of 6,000 miles through 23 states. The car had been the subject of numerous articles, including a 1987 piece by Ralph Towers “Running Through the Rockies, Nothing Clicks Like a 356.” The car has attended countless car shows and Porsche events including PCA (The Porsche Club of America) events, SCCA, Porsche Parades, and 356 Registry events.
“Greenie” is a 1959 Porsche 356 A Convertible D originally painted in red with a brown interior. It was subsequently repainted in green, and the interior redone in tan. The car runs a 1,600-cc flat-four making 90 horsepower sent to the rear wheels via a four-speed manual transmission. Note some of the 356 A’s specific attributes like the bumper guards, the curved windshield, and the tailpipes integrated into the rear bumper guards.
1959 Porsche 356 – carsforsale.com | Shop 1959 Porsche 356 on Carsforsale.com
The car’s condition is a charming balance of lived-in patina, like the rock chipped green paint and worn wood steering wheel, and meticulous care evidenced by the interior’s beautiful condition and the engine bay’s cleanliness.
This charming and “well-loved” 356 is so close to a million miles, it is hard not to be tempted to buy it just to get it over the mark.
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