Today I had the pleasure of riding in a 1963 Porsche 356 SC. It happens to belong to one of the owners of the company we’re currently visiting in The Netherlands. I’ve had a steady contact with Porsche owners for over 16 years trough my dad’s work at North Hollywood Speedometer so this car was nothing new to me. In fact, when I first learned that Simon (the owner) had a 356 I really didn’t care much for it and straight out said “yeah, that’s a nice tin can”. But then Simon offered me a short ride, my first ever in a 356, and now I have a new gained respect for this German made classic.

First of all, hot damn this thing halls ass. For a car just a year short of 50, I can’t believe how fast it is. More to the point, I can’t believe an air cooled four-banger in the back can actually pull off the kind of power that pushed me comfortably in into my seat. Second, Simon is by far the coolest Porsche owner I’ve ever met. He drives his car, no trailer queen here, and he really likes to push the car to what it was designed to do to begin with. Going fast into a corner felt very comfortable, as did the noise to speed ratio; it was loud but it was fast!

The car is stock with all of its part numbers and such matching perfectly, even the original radio still works. The only thing a bit out of place but very understandably so is the TomTom GPS unit hooked up to its own 12v battery pack; this car is 6volts all around. The car has also been lowered a bit, both front and back, to make it corner better but the lowering also gave it a much more agressive look.

And since I’ve seen hundreds of 356 gauges, here too I had to pay a comment; in need of an urgent restoration would be my suggestion. Faceplate paint peeling off, tachometer pointer jumping around too much for no apparent reason or RPM change, basic stuff as seen on any 50 year old Porsche.

I was promised the drivers seat at the end of the day but after a 12 hour workday driving anything didn’t really strike me as a good idea. Maybe next time.