Porsche 356 Pre A Driven in the Snow: a Thing of True Beauty

Remember, we're not talking about a regular 356. This is the Pre A, basically the first version of the car, which was built between 1948 and 1955 in 7,627 examples. Of all the 356 production series, this is the rarest, so to see it being driven like this is very special.

The story of our white coupe protagonist starts of a decade ago. When it made its first SUV, Porsche asked Zwart to make a film called the "Road to Cayenne". He decided he needed driving shots of a 356 to explain how Porsche was building car for harsh roads way before the SUV was even invented.

Zwart found one for sale in California and bought it, believing it was only a temporary acquisition. But after driving it for a while, he realized that the Pre A was a wonderful thing which he needed to keep for himself.

These were early days for the German company, before it became the world-renowned manufacturing powerhouse of today. If you owned a 356 and had a free weekend, you simply entered it in a road rally and had fun. No corporate sponsorship, no marketing, just driving.

Being the first series production Porsche, the 356's creation is attributed to Ferdinand himself. Like the original Beetle, it had a small four-cylinder, air-cooled engine at the back. Now here's an interesting bit of trivia for you: the first 356s ware hand-fabricated in aluminum until 1950 when production moved to Zuffnhausen, Germany.

A company called Reutter made the steel bodies after that, until they were actually taken over by Porsche in 1963. You might know them for their seat manufacturing business nowadays: Recaro, a name that comes up in the automotive business from time to time.