When the Porsche 356 arrived in the United States, it cost the same as a luxurious Cadillac V8, too much to be a success. Porsche had to build a cheaper and simpler version to succeed in the North American market. Thus was born the 356 1500 America Roadster that was the germ of all these Porsche Speedster.
That America Roadster had 70 horses, very low windows, was simpler and only had an emergency hood. It seemed perfect, since it faithfully represented the concept of “less is more”, but it hid a major problem. Its aluminum body made making it very expensive, so only 21 units were made.
Porsche 356 1500 Speedster
Therefore, the then importer of the brand in that market, the visionary Max Hoffman, asked Porsche for a car with the same concept, simpler than what they had until now but that cost less than $ 3,000. In the fall of 1954 Porsche presented the 356 1500 Speedster, which cost $2,995.
The success of that model, especially in the sunniest states in the United States such as California, was unstoppable, encouraged by many famous and rich who dared to take one, such as James Dean who had a 356 Speedster before the 550 Speedster in the who died
The height of this model came in 1957 with the launch of the 356 A 1500 GS Carrera GT Speedster, which already mounted a 1.5 engine much more full and powerful.
The Porsche 911 Speedster of the 80s
But the Speedster concept and that “less is more” was slightly abandoned until the 80s. Then Porsche presented at the Frankfurt Motor Show the 911 Speedster Clubsport, a prototype that brought forward the arrival in 198-9 of the 911 Carrera Speedster Turbolook.
From that model was also made a version with Carrera body, narrower than the Turbolook, of which only 181 units were made and is nowadays a highly valued version among collectors.
The only Porsche 993 Speedster, for Ferdinand Alexander Porsche
In 1992 and 1993, 930 units of the 911 Carrera 2 Speedster of the 964 generation were made. Of these, only 15 had Turbolook bodies. In 1995, the Porsche Exclusive department created a one off over body 993 Speedster for Ferdinand Alexander Porsche.
Generation 996 did not have a Speedster version, so we had to wait until 2010 when a Speedster version of the 997 arrived, of which only 356 units were made in honor of the car with which we started this article.
Now, it seems that the 991 generation is going to say goodbye with a new version Speedster, something that we already advanced at the time and confirming the spectacular prototype 911 Speedster Concept of 500 atmospheric horses that has also been hunted in its final production version at the Nürburgring , confirming that you will not be left alone in a prototype.
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