This 1959 Porsche 356 A 1600 Cabriolet left the Porsche factory on 9 June 1959, finished in Ruby Red (5702) over a Black upholstered interior. According to its Kardex, the 60-horsepower, Type 616/1 ‘Normal’ engine that was fitted when new is still powering this Cabriolet today. Ordered through Glöckler Porsche, its Kardex also shows the original owner as Master Sargent Theodore D. Simmons, who took delivery of this hardtop Cabriolet through Porsche’s tourist delivery program, likely during deployment in Germany. He is believed to have brought the car back to the United States to his home in National City, California.
Following the Master Sargent’s ownership, the oral history of this car begins with a dental student selling the 1600 Cabriolet to Charlie Werp of Omaha, Nebraska, in the early 1960s. Werp would tuck his final-year 356 A Cabriolet in the basement of his residence for the next 40 years while the young electrical engineer focused on his new career at an engineering firm. The next owner, a friend of Werp’s in Texas, owned it for a short period before being acquired by Lance Pittack, a well-known Porsche enthusiast and the owner of Woodhouse Porsche of Omaha, Nebraska. Remaining in remarkably good condition overall, Pittack enjoyed the car for several years before commissioning a complete restoration of his Cabriolet, a task that those at Woodhouse Porsche completed with relish.
Beginning in 2010 and finishing two years later, the technicians at Woodhouse Porsche started by carefully disassembling the car before stripping it to a bare metal shell. While the body was being refinished in its original striking shade of Ruby Red, the numbers matching engine and transmission were disassembled and rebuilt to factory specifications, along with a suspension and braking system overhaul. The interior was retrimmed with period-appropriate black leatherette upholstery complemented by oatmeal-colored German square weave carpet. The original interior color perfectly suits this Cabriolet’s Black hardtop, which is indirectly noted on the Kardex as a second body color, ‘5701schw.’ When fitted to the car, the hardtop Cabriolet takes on a coupe-like appearance with a refreshing color contrast between the two. Additionally, a new wiring harness, body seals, and numerous other parts were reconditioned or replaced to return this 356 A Cabriolet back to a condition as close as possible to when it left Stuttgart nearly 65 years ago. Invoices on file and available for review reveal that over 1,500 hours of labor and in excess of $135,000 were spent on the two-year restoration, and today, it remains in exceptional condition, with very little mileage driven since completion.
