Porsche 356SL

The Porsche type 514, also known as the 356SL (“Sport Leicht”) is a purpose-built race car based on the 356/2. It was initially designed for participating in the 1951 Le Mans 24-hour race. The French Porsche distributor Auguste Veuillet suggested participating in the race during a meeting at the Paris Salon motor show in October 1950. Porsche determined that they had a chance of winning the 1100cc class G with a modified version of the aluminum 356/2 cars and the type 396 1086cc engine. The Porsche 356 cars produced at that time at the Reutter factory in Stuttgart featured a steel body and Volkswagen style floor pan which was heavier and less rigid than the box-section chassis with aluminum body of the 356/2 cars. 63 chassis have been produced in total in Gmünd, Austria out of which about 50 cars have been fully assembled and finished in Austria, one or two were used for testing purposes or repairing damaged cars and the remaining 11 chassis with unfinished bodies were shipped to Stuttgart and used for the factory and customer racing cars based on the type 514 design.

== Construction and assembly == The chassis consists of welded steel box sections with a 2100mm wheelbase and independent suspension made up from transverse torsion bars and trailing arms with swing axles at the rear. The 356/2 body was made of aluminum with steel doors. Type 514 modifications to the 356/2 body consisted of items like aluminum panels underneath for improved aerodynamics, enlarged 78-litre fuel tank with quick release filler cap and leather bonnet straps. Furthermore, the cars had some specific features for the Le Mans race like extra headlights, aluminum shrouds around the wheels and a 3th wiper that were not used in every event. The type 369 air cooled flat four-cylinder engine was modified with a camshaft designed by Ernst Fuhrmann and a lighter flywheel, increasing the horsepower to 46 bhp. The displacement of 1086cc with a 7:1 compression ratio, the Solex 32 PBI carburettors and Fichtel & Sachs clutch was the same as the engine used in the 356/2 and the first models of the 356 produced in Stuttgart. The gear ratios of the four-speed Volkswagen gearbox were modified as well.

Final assembly was performed at either Stuttgarter Karosseriewerk Reutter & Co or Dannenhauer & Strauss. The 356SL cars show some inconsistencies in numbering because bodies and chassis have been combined whole or in part after crashes and exported car chassis have been renumbered to the 300x/A range. This allowed for the re-use of original chassis numbers which prevented the need for new registration and customs paperwork. For instance, chassis number 356/2-055 has been re-used at least twice. The cars have been modified significantly during the fist few years to be able to meet sporting regulations and keep them competitive, for instance in 1952 two cars received a higher roof for Italian regulations and in 1953 a more streamlined lower body was introduced. Various engine types were used in the cars depending on the class they were competing in and following the engine developments at Porsche.

== History  == The 356SL cars have been produced and modified over a period of 3 years. In 1951 one prototype for testing purposes and four racing cars were built in for the 24 Hours of Le Mans and other racing events. Le Mans regulations required the cars to be available for sale to customers so two cars where prepared in the same year for private entry into various races making them the first dedicated customer racing cars from Porsche. Several cars where crashed and the parts used to repair the other cars. At the end of the 1951 season the remaining 3 racing cars have been exported to Max Hoffman in the USA and all three cars still exists in private collections. In 1952 another four cars were built for the 1952 racing season and in 1953 one car was rebuilt for the Le Mans race. By that time all remaining chassis and bodies from the Gmund period were used and the focus of the Porsche factory team and its customers had shifted to the new Porsche 550 spyder.

Detailed history of each chassis
356/2-053 This was one of the first 356SL prototypes. It was damaged at the Le Mans race track when driven by racing team manager Paul von Guillaume, he was trying to avoid a bicycle and crashed. This happened during a gearbox and final driver ratio test before the 1951 race.

356/2-054 Porsche documentation indicates that this is one of the four cars prepared for the 1951 Le Mans race with the 1086cc engine. It was the entry with starting number 47 and crashed two nights before the race during practice in the pouring rain while driven by Rudolph Sauerwein. The car has been repaired with parts from chassis 063 and exported to the US in November 1951. It was sold by Max Hoffman to Fritz Koster. The car was entered in the 1953 Carrera Panamericana race with starting number 199 driven by Joaquin Castillo de la Fuente and also raced in the 1954 edition of the Carrera Panamericana driven by Jacqueline Evans de López but did not finish in both attempts. The car is still in Mexico and waiting to be restored.

356/2-055 Based on Porsche documentation available in the company archive this is one of the four SL cars prepared for the 1951 racing season. Final assembly had been outsourced to Dannenhauer with the new 1488cc engine installed in the car. It was first used in the 1951 Rome-Liege-Rome race with starting number 33 and license plate W24-3475 and after that for setting the Montlhéry speed records on 02/10/1951. It set eleven world speed and endurance records on the Montlhéry circuit near Paris, averaging 94.66 mph for 72 hours. The record setting car was shown at the 1951 Paris Auto show and exported to Max Hoffman in the U.S. in November 1951 with the new chassis number 3003/A. It was sold by Hoffman to Trego Imported Motors, Hoopeston, IL. The car raced extensively and was generally driven by Karl Brocken. It has since been restored and is part of the Miles Collier collection at the Revs institute in Naples, Florida. 356/2-056 is one of the four type 514 cars prepared for the 1951 Le Mans race. Final assembly was performed at Reutter. The history of this particular car is extensively documented and well deserved because it is the 1951 Le Mans class G winner (20th overall) with entry number #46. Based on recent photograph taken during the latest restoration, the chassis number was re-stamped to 356/2-063. This likely occurred just prior to the race when the original 063 car was crashed by a mechanic in a head-on collision on the Autobahn. This car was exported to U.S. November 1951 with chassis number 3002/A. Sold by Hoffman to John von Neumann (owner of Competition Motors in California). The car was modified into Roadster configuration mid 1952. Since then the car has been restored by Emory Motorsport into the 1951 Le Mans condition.

356/2-057 This car has been built in 1951 for a private customer and contains some SL features. It was raced in the U.S.A. The car has been restored and is part of a private collection.

356/2-058 Chassis 058 was part of the 4 cars prepared for the 1952 racing season. After the crash of 356/2-060 at the Bol d’Or in Montlhéry on June 8, 1952, a new car was needed with a high roof to be able to participate in Italian races. Chassis number 058 was modified and participated in the 1952 Coppa Inter-Europa at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza with license plate W83-4079. Later it was seen at Porsche with two other cars when they were preparing for Le Mans 1953. 356/2-059 Coupe configured as SL at the rented Reutter facility in Zuffenhausen for the 1952 racing season. The chassis number was immediately changed to 055 so the license plate W24-3475 could be re-used. During the 1952 Mille Miglia it was used as a support car. After that it has had a long racing career starting at the 1952 Le Mans. In 1953 the car was modified with a lower and more aerodynamic roof which can still be seen in the Porsche museum Stuttgart where it is wearing chassis data plate 356/2-055. The location of the plate covers the stamped chassis number. This is the only 356/2 known to have had the 4-cam engine installed by the factory.

356/2-060 was built for the 1952 racing season and was fitted with a higher roof to meet the Italian regulations. It first appeared in the 1952 Mille Miglia, in which it was driven by Giovanni Lurani and Konstantin Berkheim. They finished the race in 46th place overall and first in the GT class under 1500cc with a total time of 14h53m03". Unfortunately, this car finished its racing career just a month later when it was crashed by André Le Jantel on the second lap of the Bol d'Or at the Montlhéry race track on June 8, 1952. The car was damaged beyond repair.

356/2-061 This coupe was configured as a SL in Zuffenhausen in 1951 with chassis number 3004/A and was ordered by D’Ieteren Belgium on September 19, 1951. After appearing in the 1952 Brussels Auto Show it was sold to Max Thirion and raced extensively by his daughter Gilberte Thirion. It was the winner of the 1952 Liège-Rome-Liège Rally with starting number 81 and had a long and well documented racing career after that. It was the only 356/2 known to have had been modified to a mid-engine configuration. The car is in Belgium and being restored to its 1952 condition by its current owner.

356/2-062 This car is part of the 4 cars configured as an SL in Zuffenhausen for the 1952 racing season. It finished 11th overall and first in class up to 1100cc in Le Mans 1952 with starting number 50 and licence plate W83-4080. In the 1953 Le Mans race it started with number 46 and did not finish. Later in 1953 it competed at Silverstone (starting number 6) with the drivers Auguste Veuillet and Edmond Mouche before it was transported to Mexico for the 1953 Carrera Panamericana driven by Guillermo Suhr Contreras and Oscar Alfonso (Number 153). Before the race the car had an accident during practice but was repaired and was able to start the race. 356/2-062 never finished the 1953 Carrera Panamericana and was lost in Guatamala, never to be seen again.

356/2-063 According to Porsche documentation, this is one of the four cars prepared for the 1951 Le Mans race. Final assembly was performed at Reutter. In June 1951 the car was raced by G.F. Roeloffzen at Zandvoort. On the way back to Stuttgart the car was crashed on the Bruchsal-Karlsruche Autobahn near Stuttgart. Parts of the wreck have been used for repairing the 1951 Le Mans entry with starting number 47, (356/2-054) and the chassis is assumed to be destroyed.

356/2-05? In 1953 a rebuilt car with chassis number 055 was prepared for Le Mans. It was assembled with body number 806/40, which was initially destined for chassis number 051. The roof was changed to a more streamlined low roof with aluminum trim around the windscreen. This car still exists in a private collection in the USA with the last digit of the chassis number ground off and replaced with a 5. It could be one of the crashed chassis like 356/2-053 but is more likely chassis number 356/2-051 as the crashed cars show significant damage to the body and chassis. The car has two chassis numbers as it also features the smaller style chassis plate which was introduced in March 1953 with number 356/2-058, so this is also not an original Gmund period chassis number plate. This chassis number allowed it to race with the W83-4079 license plate. The car participated in the 1953 Le Mans race with starting number 49, the Liège-Rome-Liège with starting number 50 and was later seen with its distinctive aluminum trim around the windshield and the low roof at the 12Hrs of Sebring in 1955 with starting number 69.

Racing history
The table below gives an overview of the racing history of the Porsche 356SL cars. The original chassis number is listed for each event with the chassis number carried during the event between brackets.