Dennis Collins has built an impressive reputation when it comes to picking up barn finds. He loves all things classic. In his latest episode, he traveled to La Junta, Colorado, to rescue a 1961 Porsche 356 1600 Super Coupe. Collins was exceptionally excited about this find because it’s an early outlaw-style build that the owner raced 40 years ago.
The 356 Porsche has an incredible history. It was first developed by Austrian company Porsche Konstruktionen GesmbH between 1948 and 1949, and later by German company Dr. Ing. h. c. F. Porsche GmbH between 1950 and 1965. It was the first Porsche production vehicle.
“It’s a nice garage find with a race motor in the car, an extra motor, great history, lots of race history, and an outlaw before there were outlaws,” Collins revealed.
Getting to La Junta wasn’t going to be an easy trip. Since there was no air or boat transport, Collins and his team had to drive two days to their destination.
According to the owner, the 1961 Porsche 356 last ran in 2005. He’s owned it since 1982. It’s currently running the original B engine and everything on it is stock apart from the carburetors (he swapped out the Zenith carburetors for Solex PIIs).
The vintage race car also came with disc brakes, 15-inch 911 wheels, a camber compensator at the back, aftermarket vintage race seats, and a roll bar. Apart from the stock engine, this classic outlaw-style Porsche 356 also had a race engine (912 case engine) used for vintage racing that can spin to 8,000 RPM.
The owner took one last ride in his old racer before Collins, and his team put it on the trailer. It’s an incredibly preserved car with minor cosmetic issues.
Collins didnt reveal what he paid for the classic racer, but we are sure it cost a pretty penny. A twin-grille Roadster auctioned for $172,000 eleven years ago.
We recommend catching all that action in the video below. It’ll be great to see what Collins has in store for this classic racer. Let’s hope he keeps it as part of his classic car collection.
Humphrey is a car enthusiast whose love and passion for automobiles extended into collecting, writing, driving, and working on cars. He got his passion for cars from his Dad, who spent thousands of hours working on his old junky 1970 E20 Toyota Corolla. Years later, he would end up doing the same with a series of lemons he’s owned throughout his adult life. Full profile
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