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Carrera or not Carrera
A 356 Speedster GT with an identity crisis
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Porsche Carrera GT Speedster #84942
At the Porsche Eifelrennen, Nurburg Ring on the 7th of June 1959.
Driven by Gerhard Koch with race number 38
Most 356 purist would agree, that when it comes to Porsches 1959 Speedster GTs we are talking about a very rare endangered species indeed. Porsche only produced 32 of these lightweight heavyweights in 1959.
They were bare bone cars with aluminium doors and lids identified by six louvered engine lids. It is common knowledge that 32 cars were built for Porsches die hard racing clientle long after general speedster production had seized in 1958. Out of these 32 cars 25 were delivered with quad cam engines and 7 with pushrod engines. The reason 7 of these GTs had 1600 pushrod engines installed is due to the fact that the more wxotic quad cam engine was in short supply at the factory. This was caused by racing customers blowing their engines and requesting replacement unit from the factory. Race customers were some of their best customers so Porsche would rarely say no to such a request.
This brings the story to a young german called Gerhard Koch, who would order a 1959 Carrera Speedster GT from Porsche to participate in european rallies. Prior to delivery he was informed that his car would be fitted with a pushrod engine instead of the more desirable 4 cam race engine, but was assured by Porsche that should a 4camer become available he could have it fitted at a later date.
Chassis# 84942 was delivered to Gerhard Koch on the 25th of March 1959 through Porsche Dealer Nordrhein in Dusseldorf with the 75 HP Engine # 83617. Gerhard maintains that his GT Speedster was delivered with standard tank and brakes, the factory had to even change the electrical system back from 12V to 6V to accomodate the pushrod engines electrical system. His car carried the Carrera badge at the rear unlike the other 6 Pushrod GTs which had to do good with the 1600 Super Script.
Just 5 weeks after taking delivery he received news from Nordrhein that a suitable Quadcam engine had been allocated. The completely overhauled Porsche Kunden Dienst (Customer Service) quad cam engine # P90705 Typ 547/1 Carrera GT engine was fitted to 84942 on the 9th of march 1959. This engine originally belonged to a prototype 356 Coupe chassis# 12291.
This makes #84942 a very special car indeed, having two factory installed engines in its Kardex. Further prove that the factory acknowledges #84942 as a Carrera GT is the fact that it appears in Porsche AG's Carrera Speedster listing, compiled by Olaf Lang in May 1991. The other 6 Pushrod Gts do not get a mentioning.
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