1962 Porsche 356 Super 90

Bought by the vendor from the Netherlands two years ago as a companion to match his road-going 356 Super 90, this T6 race car is well-known in Porsche circles following its appearance on racing circuits across the UK in the 1980s in the hands of Trevor Messett, who bought the car in 1976, hanging on to it for well over a decade, exercising it regularly on the track.

The current owner has only taken it on a couple of tracks days, including one at the legendary Spanish circuit of Jarama. Despite foul weather limiting him to around 12 laps, he said it handled beautifully and went very well indeed!

The gunmetal coachwork is beautifully set off by silver and red racing stripes, a wonderfully evocative look that has been further enhanced by the removal of the front and rear bumpers and the fitment of leather bonnet straps.

As a racing car, this example is fitted with a fibreglass engine cover, bonnet and doors. Perspex windows, including the windscreen and rear glass, further reduce the weight, and the entire bodywork was restored and painted just prior to the vendor buying it two years ago. The current colour is not original, being a modern metallic grey, whereas it came out of the factory with a non-metallic finish.

The bodywork is clean and tidy, although, as might be expected, the fibreglass doors are purposeful rather than pretty. They are concave in profile, rather than convex and so are not up to Porsche factory standards in terms of fit and finish. As a racing machine, this hasn’t bothered the owner as he says they open, close and latch perfectly.

The chrome around the indicators is pitted, and so they would benefit from being stripped down and re-chromed.

The interior has been completely stripped and lightened. A purpose-built, bolt-in period roll-cage from the eighties adds back some weight but provides some extra structural strength as well as a high degree of passive safety should the driver be unlucky enough to run out of talent at any point.

Further safety equipment includes a modern racing seat fitted with a six-point safety harness, external battery cut-off switch, fire extinguisher, and an aluminium, foam-filled racing fuel tank.

An original Les Leston wood-rimmed steering wheel is backed up by late-period instruments, and the whole car has been converted to run on 12 volts. 

For serious track use, the safety harness and bucket seat will need replacing, as the former is out of date, and the latter has a small crack.

An Eric Studer (the 356 guru, also affectionately known as "Studerman" following his comic strip appearance in Porsche Post in days gone by) 1720cc engine lurks under the fibreglass lid. Fitted with a race camshaft, it breathes through twin Solex carburettors sitting under tuned stacks, and exhales through an exhaust that includes a centre silencer to ensure the car meets the 90dB track noise restriction.

Two Carrera front oil coolers are fitted and the power is fed to the wheels through a strengthened SC transmission fitted with solid bushes. Uprated discs all round ensure that it stops as well as it goes, and the suspension is strengthened and lowered all round with uprated front and rear uprights and hubs and the whole lot is damped by Koni dampers.

In other words, the mechanical specification reads like a Porsche enthusiast’s cost-no-object wish list. The owner tells us that: “It starts on the button, stops and runs very well, the engine has only done 3 track days after rebuild.” 

It sits on gorgeous black 15-inch Fuchs alloy wheels that are shod with Pirelli semi-slick tyres. The wheels could do with a light refurbishment to remove a few light scuffs and scratches but, importantly, they are not bent and run true. The tyres do have tread, but they are age-hardened and all four need replacing.

The owner also tells us that there is a small oil leak from the main bearing on the front of the crankshaft. He says it is minor, with only a couple of drops falling per week and thinks it is just a dry seal that will swell back to its original size with more regular use, curing the problem without further intervention.

Devoting just a little time and effort to rectify this short ‘to do’ list would leave little, if anything, else to do other than to take it out and enjoy that wonderfully sonorous engine!

As a well-known car, there is extensive period history available including a detailed article from 1990 in which the legendary racing driver and motoring journalist Tony Dron puts the Porsche through its paces for Thoroughbred and Classic Cars magazine.

We’ve previously sold a Camel Trophy Land Rover Discovery from this chap’s incredible collection (he also happens to run Spain's premier classic Porsche restoration specialist), and he never ceases to amaze us with the breadth and quality of his cars. The Porsche is currently in Madrid, which we accept limited the opportunities to view it in person, but there are dozens of photographs to help to decide whether it’s the car for you and the owner is more then happy to speak to potential purchasers or welcome them to his workshop if you would like to view in person (we can also confirm that the Discovery we sold recently was honestly described by him and the photographs were an accurate representation of the vehicle). 

We can also help arrange transport to bring it back from Spain with one of our partners should the winning bidder require it. As a car that was previously registered in the UK the import procedure should be simple.

While this Porsche 356 is by no means a concours winner as it stands but it is an honest, well-sorted racing car that is ready to compete in just about any discipline you can think of. That it has such a great provenance only adds to its appeal and future value.

We can see this vehicle going to a discerning collector who actually wants to use it as it was built to be used because it’s far too nice to simply sit as a static exhibition in an air-conditioned garage…

The guide price is £70,000. To arrange to speak to the current owner, please use the 'Contact Seller' button at the top of the listing, or feel free to ask any questions in the comments or view our frequently asked questions below.