This year Porsche America is celebrating its 60th anniversary, and to celebrate it they started a campaign to find the oldest Porsche ever sold in the US. They started the quest back in August and launched a website for it, from which they received hundreds of submissions. And they finally found what they were after! It’s a 1952 356 Cabriolet from Oklahoma City.
This car is owned by Dr. Robert Wilson, and has been restored after discovered in a salvage yard by Wilson years after arriving on U.S. soil. It was imported in November of 1952 by Austrian businessman, Max Hoffman, in New York, who brought the first Porsche cars to the U.S. beginning in 1950. The car has a 1.5 liter 60 horsepower engine and is finished in delicious strawberry red.
The My Porsche Classic Search also yielded the discovery of another distinguished and even rarer Porsche – a blue 1950 356 Cabriolet owned by Richard Brumme of Annapolis, Md. This car is one of the very first series production 356s built in Stuttgart, after the company relocated from Gmund, Austria. Impeccably restored with original parts sourced from around the globe, the 1950 356 Cabriolet was also recently honored with the 2010 Best in Show and Best in Class Awards at the 356 Registry’s annual gathering in Cleveland, Ohio. While Brumme’s car is unique and special, it was not the oldest Porsche actually retailed in America. This distinction goes to Wilson’s 356 Cabriolet of 1952.
Porsche also encouraged owners of cars spanning 12 model ranges to enter their cars for a shot at earning the ‘oldest’ designation for their respective car model. Apart from the 356 lineup, entries were submitted for the Porsche 911, 912, 914, 924, 928, 944, 968, Boxster, Cayenne, Carrera GT and Cayman. The oldest Porsche models in America and their owners are:
- 1965 911: Barry August of Clarksville, Md.
- 1965 912: Steve Torkelsen of Wilton, Conn.
- 1970 914: Ralph Stoesser of Marco Island, Fla.
- 1977 924: Jay Hoover of New Haven, Ind.
- 1977 928: Jim Doerr of Richmond, Va.
- 1983 944: John Denning of Covington, Wash.
- 1992 968: Jeffrey Coe of Trumball, Conn.
- 1997 Boxster: David Adrian of Worcester, Mass.
- 2004 Cayenne: Adam Reichard of Magnolia, Texas
- 2005 Carrera GT: Robert Ingram of Durham, N.C.
- 2006 Cayman: Eugenie Thomas of Martinez, Calif.
