The car was described as being so deteriorated that it appeared as if it were parked next to a lawn sprinkler for 30 years.
A shame, for sure, because the car is extremely rare. Only 442 were built.
The car, a 1964 Porsche 356 C 2000GS, is the last of the original Carrera series. It had been purchased by American Dr. Eric Haron—an Oxford professor and Porsche enthusiast living in England—from a German dealer in 1967.
Heron once brought the Porsche with him to the United States when he attended Harvard during a sabbatical. When he returned to England with the Porsche, he had the red car repainted black, then put it into long-term storage in a carport with a lattice roof. In other words, the car sat for 30 years virtually exposed to the elements.
British architect John Heah purchased the Porsche in 2007, but again it sat until 2011, when it was given a rapid, eight-month restoration. Then the car was sent to 356 specialist John Willhoit in Long Beach, California, who “replaced all the sheetmetal from the doorhandles down,” says Peter Linsky, who wrote about the car for Excellence magazine.
The 2-liter four-cam engine was restored by Bill Doyle in Jackson, Wyoming. The better-than-new restoration was introduced at the 2011 Concours on the Avenue in Carmel, California, where Linsky first saw the car.
“It was a knockout,” he says, “just stunning.”
The Porsche has also been displayed at the Dana Point Concours and The Quail at Monterey. The car will be shown at the Amelia Island Concours before returning to England, where it may enjoy slightly better storage conditions this time around.
British Porsche racing legend Eric Struder restored this Carrera after it was exhumed from its prison cell after so many years. The car was rotted up to its door handles. Stored for many decades inside this stall, this rare Porsche, which has a porous roof, was exposed to the wet and humid British weather for 30-plus years. JOHN HEAH