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Anyone who is a frequent reader will know that I love new and interesting colors. It’s one of the aspects of any car that is most likely to attract me to it and make we want to investigate it further. I’m certainly not alone in this as color represents anyone’s most immediate apprehension of a vehicle, but I find it especially important and even find myself giving significant attention to colors I don’t even necessarily like! What does this have to do with this 1964 Porsche 356C 1600 SC Cabriolet? 1) It’s beautiful, as most any 356 Cabriolet is. 2) Until now I’ve never come across this color. It’s Champagne Yellow, a color Porsche only made available in the ’60s, and as the name suggests it’s a very light version of yellow with hints of gold. It looks great on this vintage 356!
It’s amazing what happens to a car when you put fins on it. That’s what happened to the entry level line Mercedes-Benz in 1961. The W110 was a perfectly tame, conservatively styled basic sedan all the way up to the point past the rear axle then the fins come out and the crowd goes wild. Because of these fins, the W110 now carries the name ‘Heckflosse’ which is of course is German for ‘Fintail.’ These Heckflosse sedans were nothing special outside of the style point and Mercedes really didn’t plan for them to be their flagship. You had two options for the engine in a 1.9 liter gas four cylinder or the 2.0 liter diesel. Both a little under powered, but sturdy and dependable. With the newest of these cars just being almost 50 years old, the Heckflosse is starting to become more rare by the year. So let’s take a look at this wonderful 190D for sale in New Jersey.
I’m going to step back from the world of ultimate performance 911s to bask in the beauty of a vintage Porsche. While there certainly existed performance variants of the 356 back in its day, by modern standards performance is very much beside the point when having a look at one of these cars. They’re very lightweight – I was struck by just how small a 911T appeared relative to the cars around it when I encountered one on the street this past weekend – and there is very little separating driver from machine to dull communication between them, but fewer than 100 horses is just that and modern suspension engineering is another world entirely. Yet, when I see a 356, which I think has only happened twice that I can remember, I’m just as struck by how different they look and how elegant they can be. Many vintage automobiles possess a similar stature and it is the nostalgia for these designs that drives many to seek them out. The example here isn’t entirely original – it’s engine is a period correct unit from the 912 – but it comes in an extremely subtle, but still very pretty, Dolphin Grey and comes from very near the end of 356 production. Here we have a 1964 Porsche 356C SC Karmann Coupe, located in California, with what sounds like around 120K miles on it (the seller assumes the odometer has turned over, but doesn’t have verification).
For some time, the fate of Audi seemed sealed. Post World War II, Auto Union GmbH’s production was focused on the DKW automobiles that fit into the European economic situation much better than the pre-War luxury cars from Horch and Audi. But the market was changing, and Auto Union launched the very pretty 1000SP Coupe and Convertible. But, there was no denying that the 1000SP looked like a 1950s car in a 1960s world. Audi’s production would really have to wait until the launch of the C1 chassis in 1968; prior to that, some re-badged DKW models wore the Audi name but sold only in small numbers. The C1 would prove to be a pretty popular model, though, and the new 100 model would be available as both a sedan and as a 2-door “Coupe S” model. The lines of that model, as with the 1000SP, mimicked more expensive and famous cars such as the Fiat Dino and Aston Martin DBS. It was a pretty large departure from the mini-Thunderbird look of the 1000SP and much more modern. But, it appears that there may have been a missing link developed in the mid-1960s:
Vintages Porsches always have a more limited appeal unless they are a particularly rare model, in which case the limitations become financial. The 356 does have its share of fans, but with the 911 remaining ever popular it tends to garner much of the attention. That is to be expected given the sheer iconic stature the 911 has developed over its 50 years of production, but I remain strangely attracted to the 356. They’re attractive cars that easily show their foundation as the 911’s predecessor. So even if they’ve be relegated behind the 911, the 356 remains the 911’s roots and for that it deserves plenty of appreciation. The example here comes from near the end of 356 production: a Silver 1964 Porsche 356SC, located in Maryland, with a magnificent Red interior and a reported 58,645 miles on it.
