The Porsche 356 is a sought-after sports car, and likely will be for as long as there are buyers who wish to put one in their garage. Finding one for reasonable money these days is near impossible, especially if it’s a numbers-matching survivor. You really have to find a 356 before the flippers do if you want to pay a reasonable price, and that only gets harder as time rolls on. That’s why this non-numbers matching 1960 Porsche 356 T-5 here on eBay is a possible option for collectors on a tighter budget than most air-cooled collectors, with an asking price of $50,000 and the option to submit a best offer.

This 356 has been partially stripped down and several useful spare parts are included. It seems like this was someone’s restoration project at one point, and perhaps even a daily-friendly driver given it has a VW Beetle engine in the back instead of the Porsche-built unit. While this will reduce its chances of winning a ribbon at the next Porsche Club of America contour, it does make it more feasible to use it like any other old sports car instead of keeping it under lock and key like so many other 356s. Of course, with the strong availability of spares, it’s also possible that one could find a good used 356 engine of the correct vintage and attempt to bring this one closer to OEM condition. The body certainly looks good in pictures.

The interior photos are limited, but it looks like the seats are there. In one shot, you can see the edge of the cushion and the vinyl material isn’t torn up. The steering wheel remains OEM and the gauges are all accounted for. Among the numerous spares that are included with the sale are the bumpers, fuel tank, some sheet metal, replacement floor pans, and longitudals. So, given it’s in Ohio, it sounds like the floors will need replacing which is pretty typical for any air-cooled product of this vintage. The sheetmetal reference is more of a concern, as perhaps the body has some rough patches we can’t quite make out in the photos.

The VW engine is pretty typical for a car that likely entered driver status eons ago, and is a credit to a previous owner who simply wanted to keep the car on the road versus laying it up for untold years. Many of the 356 projects we see these days have been in a derelict state for years, with the original engine long gone. While it will take some time and money to get this desirable Porsche back to factory specs, you have to love seeing that it was never totally abandoned even when the matching numbers engine had to be pulled. What do you think would be a reasonable offer for this project-grade 356?