But I can tell you it rides well, deftly and softly, because on generous tyres and weighing around 700kg (it’s hard to discern the precise figure from historical records), it doesn’t need to be overtly stiff. Besides, nobody thought to make cars hard-riding at the time.
The steering, then – given some flex in the chassis, its slow unassisted gearing and the vagaries of time – takes a moment to pick up weight and start deflecting the car from straight ahead. It feels a bit nervous – or at least I do – as a car with a short wheelbase and a track so inward of the body might well do. But even in top gear, the 356 gathers speed onwards in a way I didn’t expect from just 40bhp.
The drag coefficient was later measured below 0.30, so it is slippery and has a small frontal area. It’s no wonder that at Le Mans in 1951, a modified Gmünd-built coupé was able to hit 100mph and finished first in the 751-1100cc class, despite putting out only 46bhp.
And, yes, there are some things that still feel like a 911 does today, such as the view, through a narrow screen, across a low front end, with pronounced wings; the slight bob of the front end, which is so differently loaded from the rear; and the fact that the noise comes from so far behind, to the extent that it’s almost inaudible at cruising speed.
Verdict
The 356/2 feels incredibly special. Never, though, does it feel exotic, nor perhaps does it look it. “Did you build it yourself,” asks a walker of its custodian when passing it in a car park, before being pleasantly surprised to learn that, no, this is the oldest Porsche in the UK.
There is, I suppose, no getting away from its humdrum mechanicals. This isn’t a race-winning V12 Ferrari. Its estimated value of around £2.7 million is very much a subject of its rarity, its status and its originality.
“It’s one of the most original 356s,” says DK Engineering’s James Cottingham, so much so that “one owner had it as a reference for his other cars”. It’s the sort of car that will, perhaps inevitably as a result of the value, go into an existing Porsche collection. And may have already done so by the time you read this.
