I owned this car as a teenager. I bought it from a 20 unit Ford lot on a northern highway, true story, for $600. Flush with cash from a timber camp, I flew by, I turned around, I bought it.
Taking it with cash for a new sedan, the dealer did not know it was a Porsche. I said this is a true story. The nameplates had been torn off by blizzard driving and wrapped under the spare tire. Other than unpronounceable type on the papers, I suppose he didn’t much care.
I think I saw this jewel go for $120K not long ago. Made me ill. I found this pic in a NYTimes review of car investing. It’s been tough to find this exact model. I’ve scoured through hundreds of pics at a dozen sites over the years.
Its heater mattered because it wasn’t. I’d wear a full body snow suit under a parka, a half dozen socks, and light a camp heater on the floor just to visit friends. A day in 25-below January I stopped to see a girlfriend and left the car idling in the lot of her apartment. We smooched a bit too long. Sub-zero weather didn’t prevent its neglected pistons from melting like sugar. The only VW mechanic that knew how to import parts for a Porsche was 200 miles away. I just towed the car to his garage and gave him the title.
I could not roll this car. I’d flipped cars into snowbanks and down a ditch, but this thing was flat like your palm on a butt. My Canada had not much more black top than just one highway and our one mile Main Street. Ice and gravel is what this Porsche could do and that’s all I knew about driving. You can bet I could fishtail this baby as well as I could steer it.
I often wonder why that car was abandoned so north in the boonies. I’m guessing a wealthy or professional adventurer wanted to ‘do’ the Alaska Highway but did not know what 1300 miles of gravel would ‘do’ to an adventure.
The Porsche I loved wasn’t branded 356 C as this pic of a USA model. Confusing me for years, I learned that the 12 or so imported to Canada were ‘1600 Super Cabriolet’ – maybe 20″ longer than 1600s and Super Cs – with rear flip up seats to earn a 2×2 classification needed under import rules.
