This Porsche 356 is rusty! It may not look that bad in the photo, but trust me, it’s going to require some serious reconstructive surgery. The seller is honest about that fact, but he does present a few good reasons why it might still be a worthwhile project. Keep reading to find out why it could end up being a jewel in the rough. It’s located in Ravena, New York and is listed here on eBay with no reserve!
This beat up bathtube was supposedly parked all the way back in 1976 when the engine blew. Unfortunately, its parking place was in the backyard so the underside is a mess. Well, just about every square inch of this car is a mess. Looks like the radio and gauges are all there though…
That blown engine happens to be the original to this car so that makes this a numbers matching machine. A lot of 356s have had their engines replaced at some point so that’s a good selling point for this project. It will still need completely redone, but that shouldn’t be a problem since you’ll already be reconstructing the entire body.
As you can see here, the body resembles swiss cheese more than anything. The date on the title is from 1961 though so this could be considered a one-owner car. There you have it – numbers matching, one-owner, and no reserve. It’s going to take many pots of gold to get this thing restored, but the end result might just be worth it. Any rainbow chasers here?
Somebody with more money than brains will run the bidding up on this one to where it makes no financial sense to own it. This thing will cost a fortune to restore.
Ouch – its only a flesh wound – pour a little POR15 on it.
I get that sinking feeling just looking at this one. Seems fitting, I can use my old cast-iron bathtub to resurrect it
Hahaha! Love that last one! This thing needs TONS of work and MONEY needed here! Just like those 67 mustang rustbacks that come up all the time. People pay big bucks for these piles. Don’t they realize you can buy a decent driver for less? This is what makes our hobby go crazy. Oh well, is what is is. Live it up!
I saw this car on a trailer in a booth at the recent Central PA PCA Porsche Swapmeet in Hershey. While I’ve seen gems turned out of some pretty far gone cars. This car is REALLY gone. There’s not a spot without any sort of major rust damage. I would say at the current bid, the company selling it has certainly made one hell of a profit.
It may be good for a Porsche parts store as Porsche owner are always looking for parts or back-up parts like the carburetors, fan, tail lights, and instruments. Other than that let it Rest In Peace.
Idea: Paint it with transparent acrylic paint and use it as an automobile statue. Great for the symbol of art and the Porshe’s Symbol.
There seem to be a lot of these showing up. Did some TV show back then have a subliminal message in it telling Porsche owners to park their cars in the weeds and leave them there until they rusted out up to the door handles?
Beauty! I was wondering if there is a cult associated with these cars and some type of drug-fueled ritual that involved burying the cars.
Where was the car abandoned?? NY or PA?? Has an old PA plate on.
The next owner will likely have more dollars than sense.
The engine doesn’t look too bad. There, I said something positive.
As more and more of the old Porsche cars show up out of the wood work you would think k that the value may go down? Kinda like alot of antique values did when the internet came along.
Hello
I don’t get the fascination with these old rusty 356 that are popping up everywhere. Someone started dragging theses out of old junkyards.
$7,200??……..UNREAL! The body has ZERO value! Obviously the value is in the title, vin and some matching number parts………things you can fit in a 5 gallon bucket!
Currently bid to %7,200.Lot of money for a numbers matching heap of rusty metal with a blown motor…
I think it is 7200% higher than it should be!
Did anyone else notice the tow strap keeping the car from folding in on itself?
A candidate for Beverly Hills Car Club!
….actually they turned it down. Said it was, “Too clean”. Go figure….
Ha Ha Funny I Tried To List My 31 Ford On Here And They Told Me This.
Hi Joseph, we finally got to your Ford and I’m sorry to report that we are not going to be able to feature. It has been fully restored and you have already listed it elsewhere online. I will go ahead and refund the listing fee and wish you luck. Thanks!
Rodney ?
Who Is They ???
Ha, Ha, Ha, Rodney your comment made my day. I was at the Greystone mansion in Beverly Hills for the introduction of the Mclaren sportscar, and although the crowd was large not many of the super well heeled were there.
They know how to invest their money and enjoy great returns. So, “Too clean,” meant a poor financial investment because Porsche made about 125,000 of those cars or more,or less.
Love it ! Motor looks good, crank it over, top off oil & add spark/fuel. $100.00 car at best. Raise your hand if you remember these being nothing but $500.00 cars all day long !
Well obviously the engine is bad as it says the engine is disassembled and was blown in 1976 the reason the car was parked!
As a wise older mechanic once told me while we were in the middle of a PPI, “Find another one”. Good advise then, good advise now.
Looks Like Junk To Me
It should be put back in the ground! No hope for this derelict.
I Hear You A MEN Maybe Mike & Frank Will Buy It For A Lot Of Money They Just Love That Rusty Crap
Bring a dumpster
If I bid $7600 and win can I call this patina’ed?
This thing can’t even carry its own weight. It looks like it’s about to fold in half and fall over to the driver’s side.
Wait That’s A Pickers Dream ( Mike & Frank ) Ha Ha Ha What Junk The Person Who Buys That Will Be Very Very Sorry
They would say you’re under pricing it, but they won’t want it
My Ride
The buyer needs to bring a broom and shovel to sweep up every single bit of rusty metal to “justify” the already completely insane price.
FWIW, I paid 7.750.– in 1988 for a number matching, completely documented with 140 k miles, rust free and perfectly running 1963 Porsche 356 B Super 90 in black with red leather. Obviously, things have changed. LOL.
rust in the wind …
all it is is rust in the wind …
Yes it is hahaha
Hi Jesse. Where did you get the photo of the car in the back yard, I can’t see that on the eBay listing?
Item location:
Ravena, New York, United States
Ships to:
Worldwide
I think I saw this same car at Hersey 2 or 3 years ago. It hasn’t got any better with time.
Return it to yard art status.
Holy tater tots; another backstop for the firing range; maybe 45s as this one has a little more meat on it!
Pick it up – bring a magnet and it willcrumble into your pocket.
That’s where your wad of $$$ Left a painful hole when used for this purchase.
Nice $500 garden art, though.
Relocate to your fromt yard as is and feel coolest Porsche guy on earth.
I’m retired….in my 70s and have owned many cars of various descriptions. Restored a few that were solid and had great potential. Always shuddered at what I could spend while having fun. Usually hired pros to do the work and knew it would be expensive.
I’m really perplexed to see horribly rusted “hulks” that attract some buyers. They are either unrealistic, dumb or running low on ways to spend silly money. Certainly we all can do as we please but there are so many nice cars available that this stuff makes no sense to an old guy like me.
All I can say is….wow….have at it silly person!!!
Luckily for me, the market is speaking louder than the brain trust here. To answer your question on who would buy a car like this and why? There are parts of the world where metal work is very cheap, Eastern Europe for example, so you take a car like this, do extensive metal work to it. When you’re done you have a numbers matching 356, and they sell for more in Europe. Every time I hear “experts” say something is junk, worthless, and anyone who buys it is an idiot I think about a friend of mine who bought a car in the early 80s that had been in a fire, he spent the last 30 years restoring it. When he bought it everyone laughed at him for spending $10,000 on a half burned car. Well, now he has a 1955 Porsche 550 Spyder #0044, the one before James Deans car, in fact Dean was rumored to have sat in this one first, before buying #0045. How much of an idiot is this guy now, the car is probably worth 3-4 million, but keep calling guys idiots for buying rough Porsches, many of those guys will get the last laugh, I promise you that!
Adam: Just saw Mike Whitacre and Mike Jordan in a Griffith 400, in England TVR 400, end an eighteen year reign of the Shelby AC Cobras, E-Jaguars (lightweights, airflow types, and regulars) and 250 LM Ferrari’s and all the rest of the field at the 2017, GRAHAM HILL TROPHY,75MM,FULL RACE ON U-TUBE.
My research indicates that only 59 Series 400 were built for the entire world. The race is long, however, at 39.1 minutes one see’s the Griffith pass the red Cobra in the inside, and later pass the leading black Cobra on the outside!
How much will those 400’s cost today? By the way, Jack Andrew Griffith (RIP) while having some drinks with Carroll Shelby and feeling good told Carroll that he could build a sports car that could beat his Cobras. In America the Cobra group got the spotlight, and Jack didn’t enter any of his cars mainly Series 200’s. He made money hand over hand and the Series 200’s couldn’t take much abuse.
But when the heavy duty Series 400 with a different rear suspension-unequal wishbones and four shocks (two per wheel) and the Salisbury differential was introduced a strike closed down the harbors and no bodies could come from England. Also, the factory in Blackpool had a fire (sabotage?). So, Jack closed shop.
What was unique in the Graham Hill race is that the Griffith 400 uses the factory 78 spoke wire wheels and still beats the AC Cobras with there Shelby racing rims and tires. And, again, the Griffith gets little media and recognition in our United States of America. I get Car and Driver and Automobile Magazine and have yet to see any kind of article on the Griffith 400, the drivers, and the beating of Shelbys Cobras, and the twelve cylinder 250 LM and GTO Ferrari’s.
Just plain stupid to even show on this website. Crush it and forget it.
anyone want to team up and raise the Titanic to restore, much easier and loads more investment potential! LOL
Hahaha! I’m in! Probably be a better investment, and easier to bring back to life!!
Anyone remember when this website showcased a train caboose? It looked like TnT went off next to it. Why are we even shown scrap like this to begin with?
It looks to be worse than the Australian Mustang without the parts availability or finished value.
I say take the vin tags off long enough to cube it, then reinstall the vin tags. Then slide it it up against the wall of your garage and maybe set your pedistall grinder on top of it. Finally join your local Porsche club for bragging rights, maybe take it to a few car shows you can leave the grinder on if you want. If you want a ride in one I’m sure a club member will give you one. Who knows your cubed Porsche might out last a lot of the nice ones.
We already have one on the wall, I don’t think we have room for two…
My eyes hurt.
Honorable seller (Unobtanium Adam) honestly representing a car aimed at someone “with more ambition than money,” and at no reserve. The vintage Porsche community is neither gullible nor uninformed, and the people have spoken–$7400 with four days to go. Not for me (I do not have enough ambition) but as a regular reader I am surprised about the snarky tone of the comments in this usually upbeat forum.
@ Loco–I assure you all of the parts are available and properly put together the value is also there.
a friend of mine have one of these the engine was stolen
so its got a beetle motor in it this one mite be a engine
doner
Obviously, some folks are getting a bit carried away here. I’ve said it before, this has GOT to be all that’s left in the US for 356 projects. They only made so many. This one? Well, I’m not a Porsche fan, so I don’t know the value and hate sayings, but,,,,it is what it is. It resembles a 356 far better than some of the projects that come thru here. I’d say it, for someone, is a great find.Price? If Pawn Stars has taught me anything, the customer ALWAYS sets their sites high. They’ll get half their asking price, I’m sure.
This thing buugggs me
I’m probably going to get flamed by the purists but if you were to find a good quality 356 replica shell, you may be able to use the frame, all the running gear and a whole bunch of nice details from this pile of crap to create at the least, a very fine looking replica. It would only ever be a replica but a sweet and fast one ?
I don’t have a problem with that, except that the title will probably say Porsche, which means the guy can enter a show as the real thing. That irritates the heck out of those of us who really DO have Porsches.
I get your point but there have been cars entered at Pebble Beach that were found in worse condition that this and restored with what amounts to new body shells. It would just be a shame to lose it when a new replica tub would solve the problem. The same happens with the old 21 window kombis. They will ALL get restored no matter the condition they are found in, even if all you have is the vin plate and the windows. One guy hired a chopper to airlift a 21 window “kombi shaped” pile of rust out of a European bog in the middle of a forest. lol
I had a 1956, 356A Porsche for years. And the biggest problem was the clutch cable breaking and leaving me and my girlfriend stranded!
The leather seats were the finest of their kind! However, I believe I had only 76 horses from the 1600 cc engine.
I was a young soldier who knew little of sports cars in the sixties. But I learned quickly that my 1958, MGA coupe was in Class E according to the SCCA regulations.
So, I wanted to go up, and having little knowledge of sport cars, I fell for the Porsche brand seeing Scotter Patrick come in third behind the Cobras at Riverside. Then I learned, too late, and, without doing any research, that I was still in Class E. Yet the Porsche was wider, more air, and the seat were terrific. I even has two sets of louvers pressed on the rear lid which made the 356A look like a real racer.
Then I saw Tom Lynch and engineer race his Series 200 Griffith at the SCCA races at Santa Barbara and beat Shelbys Cobras for eight laps or until some E-Jaguar went into rocks and laid a carpet of sharp rocks for the leader of the race, which was the Griffith 200, and he DNF.
By the way, I was so naive about sports cars that I thought that my Porsche was similar to a GTS Porsche 904, and that is why I was with the Porshe club supporting the marque and Scotter Patrick. Oh, the aura of the Porshes 904. Yet it was two and a half seconds behind the Griffith 200, and ahead of some privately owned Shelby AC Cobras.
Having learned from experience. The drivers of the Carroll Shelby Cobras were Dave McDonald and Ken Miles considered the best drivers of the Cobras and had lapped the Corvettes at the 1965, Times Gran Prix, in Riverside, California. The Cobras were in Class A Production and so were the Corvettes and Porshes 904’s. And as we all know the Cobras were lighter than the Corvettes.
While Tom Lynch was standing be his tiny Griffith with a blown left rear tire I walked up to him and ask him that 99% of us didn’t know of the Griffith or ever heard of one. He said it was four hundred pound lighter than a Cobra and was an A Production Class car. He added that it was an Eastern car made in Plainsview, New York. All I could say is that I had never seen any car beat Shelbys AC Cobras nor had anyone else at the race.
Wow, I said to myself this is the car to get. There is one now in England and they want 150,000 British pounds. That’s about $300.000.00, and now that Jack Griffith is just a memory they will, in all probability, be beyond the reach of us, the middleclass.
If you didn’t like it at $7200 you’re going to vomit in your mouth a little when you hear that it’s now at $12,700.
Keith: I appreciated your response. I guess if one has restoring talents its a go! Or one has to have the big cash to carry out the project.
I just noticed that some people have the bodies hanging on the side of their shops. And easy way to put that car together.
Sold for $16,200 so yet again the market speaks louder than the peanut gallery.
The peanut gallery generally believes anything over $2000 is overpriced
As I stated earlier, if you have the money you buy what you want!
I’d love to see the finished restoration and the bill.
Thank You For The Update Adam
JOE:JjUST SHARING MY AUTOMOBILE EXPERIENCE.
MY BEST,
CHARLES