Porsche 356 A 1500 GS Carrera GT

In a 1978 interview, Thompson recalled: “The Carrera was brand new and was imported by Hoffman Motor Co. in New York. Hoffman outfitted the car with Webers and a gutsier cam. Probably the first Carrera fitted with Webers.” He continued to explain that the car’s close ratio gears were installed at the track by factory mechanic Heinz Beda prior to the Bahamas Speed Week races.

The highlight of the Carrera GT/GT’s racing career came in March 1958 when it was campaigned as a factory entry by Porsche KG in the 12 Hours of Sebring. Two legends of Porsche motorsport were at the wheel during the event. Herbert Linge, who started at Porsche as early as 1943 at the age of 15 as a mechanic and grew within the company to be a co-pilot, race winner, and staunch safety advocate with the German ONS was behind the wheel. So too was Porsche’s longtime Racing Manager and PR Director Fritz Huschke von Hanstein. Nicknamed “The Racing Baron,” Porsche described von Hanstein as a “man of the world and self-assured elegance, matched with a gift for rhetoric and mastery of many languages.” The hand-picked duo was perfectly matched for the car that finished 10th overall and 1st in class! This significant result has been confirmed through factory correspondence with Porsche of America, instantly elevating its status in the annals of endurance racing.

On 28 March 1958, chassis 100913 was sold to its first private owner, Michael Cappiello. Under Cappiello’s ownership, the car continued to race successfully in SCCA events from April through November of 1958, with documented competition at venues including Marlboro, Lime Rock, Montgomery, and VIR, consistently finishing on the podium. After its glittering racing career, chassis 100913 passed through eight further documented private owners from 1958 to 1988, with comprehensive correspondence on file documenting each owner’s endeavors to uncover the history of the rare lightweight. By the early 1980s, the car was in the hands of Glenn Herman, a PCA Manhattan Trophy winner and former head concours judge who corresponded with the factory in 1988, confirming its original build details.

Mike Curnow purchased the car from Glenn Herman in 1988. Curnow recalled in a 2022 Porsche Panorama magazine feature article (Issue 780) that the car was “in pretty nice shape,” and enjoyed driving it for a number of years before it “developed a starting issue.” Thereafter, the car remained largely dormant in Curnow’s ownership for the next 30 years, stored under a car cover in his garage.

The current Texas-based owner entered the picture in early 2014 and spent three years pursuing the car. After numerous visits and persistent negotiation, he finally acquired the car from Curnow in February 2018, emerging from storage for the first time in nearly three decades. He immediately commissioned a comprehensive restoration to the highest standards while prioritizing preservation of the car’s remarkable originality. The car was transported to Speedsport Tuning in Danbury, Connecticut, where four-cam expert Jeff Adams removed the original, matching-numbers engine and conducted a complete rebuild. Through this process, Adams verified that all of the internal engine numbers matched factory records.

Specialists from across the country had a hand in the comprehensive restoration. Roy Smalley of Euroworks undertook the meticulous restoration of the original Reutter coachwork, still bearing the body number “913” on the front trunk lid, engine compartment lid, both doors, and door hinge covers. Palo Alto Speedometer renewed the instruments to factory specification. Christensen Plating Works in Vernon, California, executed the chrome work and plating. The transaxle was expertly rebuilt by Vic Skirmants of 356 Enterprises in North Branch, Michigan. The special lightweight interior was carefully trimmed by Autos International, Inc. of Escondido, California, while Mike Doyle supplied the proper interior materials.

The entire restoration process took nearly three years, faithfully returning 100913 to its factory livery with Silver Metallic paintwork and black lightweight interior. All of the original stampings also remain intact and verified, including chassis number 100913, engine number 90816, transaxle number 15148, as well as its special lightweight factory equipment. The car made its post-restoration debut at the 26th Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance in 2021, taking first in the Sports and GT Cars class. It subsequently won the Porsche Four-Cam Class at the Radnor Hunt Concours d’Elegance in September, followed by Best in Class at the Hilton Head Concours in November of that year. Most recently, the Porsche’s originality and impeccable restoration were recognized at the 2024 Greenwich Concours d’Elegance where it won a Porsche Carrera class award, followed by a class win in “The Art of Driving Collection” at ModaMiami 2025.

Chassis 100913 offers a once-in-a-lifetime chance to own an extraordinarily rare, factory-built Porsche Carrera GT/GT—complete with documented racing provenance and an award-winning restoration. Having campaigned at the inaugural Virginia International Raceway event, Bahamas Speed Week, and a class win at the 12 Hours of Sebring, this Carrera GT/GT surely ranks among the most significant early competition Porsches to reach the market in recent years. Bolstered by period factory correspondence and its Kardex verifying that it retains its matching-numbers drivetrain and lightweight equipment—chassis 100913 stands as an irreplaceable cornerstone of Porsche’s motorsport heritage.