As Porsche values have continued to climb, we’ve seen some pretty rusty and rough examples saved from the scrap heap. It’s actually amazing what people will spend on a rough project, but when nice examples are fetching huge amounts of money, it isn’t a surprise that people would want to buy a restoration project. Unfortunately, for the 356 that reader Brad F found, there’s no hope of saving it. It’s wrecked, been torched by wildfires, and incredibly rusty, but it’s definitely an interesting sighting! Brad shared his photos with us in hopes that someone out there might recognize it and know the story of how it ended up in this sad state.
From Brad F – I went to my folk’s house for Easter and took some photos of this car… Obviously, it’s not worth anything, but I’d like to find out the history of it somehow… It’s at the bottom of a tight turn, so I’m pretty sure someone missed the corner and landed it on the bottom of the hill. It has black California plates, so it’s been there for a while. Whatever exposure and the crash didn’t destroy… the recent Ca wild fires took (including melting the transaxle case).
While there’s no hope of saving this Porsche, I’m sure there are a few people out there that would love to have it, even just as yard art! Like Brad, I’d love to hear the story behind how it ended up here and why no one recovered it when it was wrecked. If you happen to know the story, please share it in the comments below! Our thanks to Brad for sharing his sighting with us. And if you have an interesting find you’d like to share with us, please send us the photos and story!
sell it to Beverly hills auto club. they will try to sell it
The will have to beat Gullible-Wing who are racing to the scene.
Article states: “there’s no hope of saving it. It’s wrecked, been torched by wildfires, and incredibly rusty”
“Obviously, it’s not worth anything”
“there’s no hope of saving this Porsche”
BHCC: “Hold my beer.”
Crush it into a cube, I will turn it into my back porch.
Nothing is quite as fancy as a Porsche porch.
My naybors will drool with envy.
It obviously has been stripped and dumped in the forest. Curious the plate wasn’t removed. It would be a great conversation piece for someone’s collection.
When I was a very little kid living off Summit Road in the Santa Cruz Mountains in California, I heard my parents talking about a local teen who had driven his Nash Metropolitan off the road near Highway 17. Decades later I stopped in a turnout and for some reason I looked over the edge, and there was the car about thirty feet down. As recently as a few years ago it was still there. It looked more intact than this Porsche.
Brad may have just struck gold. Great story on the Metropolitan That Guy!
Please protect our environment and do not dump.
Than you.
There are more than a few unusual vehicles dumped in rural parts of California. A friend had a cabin in the Sierra Nevada foothills 350 miles north east of Los Angeles. Not far from his place, down an abandoned logging road was a fill size LA city transit bus. He said it had been there for nearly 20 years at that point in time, it’s probably still there.
Steve R
Registered to Tiger Woods?
Too soon? We’ll find out.
…b’dum tishh…!
We all know Tiger can putt, but he can not drive.
Was cruising the Nevada desert east of Reno in the ’70s in our ’59 Porsche coupe when we spotted a green 356 looking at us way out in the middle of nothing. We were already on a back road a long way from the main highway so seeing this looking at us got the best of our curiosity. What we found was a completely rust and damage free front half of a ’58 Cabriolet cut just behind the A pillar. Hood and tank were gone but the dash and front suspension were intact and in great condition. We took all of the dash pieces out with the tool kit we had on board and went back out the next weekend in our VW Notchback dune buggy and got all the rest of it. Used those parts for repair and restoration for the next 20 years. Example is the unrestored gauges in this car we finished rebuilding in ’88.
Just because it has black plates doesn’t mean its been there for decades!
Would be interesting to see if the owner’s name could be found based on the license plate……hopefully that had already been done at some point in time. Would hate to think some poor fellow met his demise because of the wreck and was never accounted for, especially if it had indeed been thru a forest fire.
Seems to me that if the cops had been informed or an insurance company had investigated, the plates would have been removed.
Perry Mason needs to send Paul Drake to Sacramento to do some digging through the records.
Plates drop out of the DMV’s system after 7 years, the VIN does too, unless the car was reported stolen, then the information (which might consist only of the VIN number) goes to law enforcement, which doesn’t purge their records. Even if the DMV was inclined to manually search through old records, assuming they still exist, whose going to pay for it?
Steve R
MANUALLY search – through papers in 2021?!
I thought most DMVs at least use a
RCA Spectra 70 computer system or equivalent. lol
Amazingly, I believe it’s possible to trace old black plates to a long-ago owner. I successfully had this done once, and found the current owner of a car that I sold in 1963. It was a ‘back-door’ deal that a law-enforcement friend pulled off. It took over two months, and I never knew what really transpired to accomplish the search. My point is, I think it’s possible to search the plate, if a person has the ‘right’ connections.
Remember Porsche, that you are rust, and unto rust you shall return.
LQQK! It a “RUST PLATE” California car!
Just a question, but being from the hell hole, New York, I thought all California cars were rust free?
It’s not it rust, it’s patina.
All this car needs is a coat of paint!
Mint!
Are you kidding me?
Does anyone not recognize that is the Porsche James Dean was killed in?
This very Porsche we are all commenting about? Are you sure? It looks like Pee Wee Herman’s!
Yup, for sure….
If you can see a car in in these pictures your eyesight is way better than mine!
Why would it be on barn finds. I love barn finds but don’t understand putting a car in here that’s already been through the car crusher
The tag would look good hanging in garage. I will pay $25.00 plus a reasonable shipping charge.
It’s rather obvious to everyone and the contributor of the photos that the “car” is NOT salvageable! I’m guessing from a lot of the comments that some of you do not even read the article attached. I would too love to hear the back story about the car in question. The writer mentioned a tight turn. Where exactly in Ca. was it? My guess would be Mulholland Dr.
I saw a 356 as bad as this getting rebuilt during Porsche week a few years ago. The jig held the dash and the firewall. Everything else was being fabricated. It was an early bent window, but still it can (and is being) be done with enough desire and funds.
Yard art.
I bet I could find a body shop that tells me, “No problem”. There’s plenty out there to take your money.
The VIN # might have value to the unscrupulous among us. Depending on the model, the VIN plates could be attached to another body to create a more valuable 356. Honest? No. Does it happen? Yes.
Dropped off a cliff, it looks like.
“Ran when parked”
Johnny C stole my thunder above with the omnipresent and overuse of “ran when parked” but I will also say this is also where such a seller would also state “No lowball offers or tire kickers…I know what I have”. Lastly, I swear in the past few years I have actually seen American muscle cars this bad listed for $5k.
LIAR, LIAR, Nothing rusts in California. I read that on eBay.
I would like to make an offer for it- minus $50K!
Is this a belated April Fools joke?
Bullet holes too!
Does remind me of the age-old story about the guy who buys a car, sight unseen, from an ad. The ad said “rust free car”. When the guy gets the car, it looks like this Porsche. He calls the seller to loudly complain. The seller stops him, and says the ad was exactly correct. There was no charge for the rust.
Is the bidding past $100,000?
Great Article!! Keep’em coming. Everybody here got a chuckle out of this and its cool. Another item that makes Barn Finds such a great stie! Stay safe and good luck!
Cheers
GPC
Sad thing … when it’s a nice Porsche, only the Porsche fans comment. When it’s a parts car or as in this case a sad ending to a fine car, everybody gets in on the joke… remember the guy crushing his Mopar, nobody laugh then.
Again a testament to the North American Big 3 Fan Club … But alas, the market has now been overrun with cars from all over the world!!!!!
But really, someone on here should have some resources to help Brad F solve the mystery of how the car found its demise.
Thanks Brad,
I knew I parked it somewhere.
Good God
God will not help this time…..the can crusher will with no regrets!
LOL
How interesting! Funny how nobody has actually identified the model here. Can a Porsche aficionado oblige? Is it a Speedster, as it sort of looks like that from the one decent photo? I note that the bonnet hinges are drilled out for lightening, so maybe this was an ex-race car? So strange that it still had its doors, etc. if it was just dumped.
I see James Dean’s was a 550…. sorry , no Golden Ticket with that find……
should buff out just fine !!
Ahhhhmeeen!
Ashes to ashes, rust to rust.
If you Google “Mines Road” in Livermore Ca, you can see the winding road that’s popular on the weekends with motorcycles and sports cars. There are 3 cars on my dads property that missed a turn on that road (which is above his property). Doesn’t seem like the porsche rolled, so I like to think he (or she) walked away. Either way, wish I found it before the wildfires took whatever was left. Land on his property burned twice in the last three years… no structures (yet).