1948 Porsche Prototype Custom Sports Cabriolet
edited by David Barth, 25 November 2008.
Courtesy "The Auto Collections" showroom at the Imperial Palace Hotel and Casino in Las, Vegas, Nevada, USA. Photos were
taken 18 November 2008.
Chassis number: 1-085552
Engine number: 115914
This 1949 Geneva Show Car was built in Zurich by Hans Waibel, who in 1988 declared that he had show-prepared
two Porsche coupes at the request of Ferry Porsche and Louise Piech for display at the Vienna Industrial
Exhibition.
Waibel was approached by a client, Rupprecht von Senger, and asked to build a similar car, which as created by
lengthening a VW chassis by 27cm. A Porsche 356 cabriolet arrived in Switzerland on October 18, 1948. The body was removed
from the Porsche. The VW chassis was fitted with this Porsche light-allow cabriolet body and a Porsche engine.
The tunnel backbone of the VW platform was fitted with an electric fan
which channeled air from a Morris Minor grille to cool the hot-running Porsche engine.
This was the first Porsche-VW
cabriolet design. It was put into storage and did not appear again for some 20 years. It underwent a full restoration
in 1992 by Hill and Vaughn in California, USA and was finished in green with a tan interior. It was exhibited at Pebble
Beach Consours d'Elegance in 1992.
Previous owners:
- 1948: Rupprecht von Senger
- 1988: Monty Montgomery, a Hollywood Film Producer
The price at the time this photos was taken was $275,000.
