All-Around Oldster.(Escape Roads)

Byline: BOB TOMAINE

A Porsche in 1959 was an easily recognized car, but it was not just the look that had become a constant.

The first 356 won its class in the 1948 Innsbruck race, Austria's initial postwar competition. The surviving 60K10-the narrow-cabin streamliner built in 1939 for a Berlin-to-Rome race preempted by the war-did the same in the 1950 International Alpine Rally. There were more wins, the Liege-to-Rome-to-Liege rally, Le Mans and La Carrera Panamericana, and by 1959 durability had become a Porsche quality as commonly accepted as its look. It's something that makes a 356 attractive today.

Porsche's penchant for endurance racing inspired Don Tevini of Goodyear, Arizona, to buy this 1959 356A to run in La Carrera Panamericana. The car's strength derives from an elegant and advanced design, which is no surprise, as its ancestors go back to the 1938 KdF-Wagen that would later become the Volkswagen. Just as the KdF can be seen in the rear-engine Beetle, the 356A is unmistakably descended from the 356/1 and 356/2 prototypes built by hand in Gmund, Austria, as the company struggled to recover from the war. Even the 60K10 shows itself in the 356A of 20 years later.

The Porsches and the Volkswagens followed separate paths, but neither lost the rugged dependability of the earliest designs, something Tevini kept in mind as he searched for a 356 with a solid body. He found this one while it was being restored, saving himself the trouble of undoing someone else's work while modifying it to meet his needs for the race.

Beyond the addition of safety equipment, the changes are not especially severe. A balanced lightweight crankshaft, better rods, a balanced flywheel and headers are the most serious engine upgrades. The front brakes were exchanged for larger units from a Carrera GT. Two transmissions were prepared, one for La Carrera, the other a track/street compromise. The result is a civilized car, a priority for Tevini.

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