Set up well and running superbly, the car is now finished in Steingrau (Stone grey) paint, a Porsche special order colour of the period. The car is a highly enjoyable, reliable and eye-catching form of transport, which has taken the owner all over the UK and abroad. There is a Porsche Certificate of Authenticity in the papers, confirming that the car was originally manufactured in Porsche exterior paint colour 5702 / Ruby Red and came with sealed beam headlights, USA bumpers, Dunlop tires and Boge shock absorbers as optional equipment. Engine number was 73194 616/1 and transmission number 26349. A letter form Porsche Club Great Britain dated 21st September 2009, confirms that the car was complete on the production line in Stuttgart between August 1958 and June 1959, the July month being set aside by the factory to update the production line for the next model year. The accompanying paperwork includes the original Porsche driver’s manual, showing clear signs of use but still in excellent and complete condition after over 60 years. Also, the original Porsche Service Book showing that the car was sold to its first owner on 9th April 1959. There is also a Maintenance Instructions for Porsche Bodies booklet. As with many US Porsche 356s, the car history is complex. At some point the car moves 600 miles west to Presidio County, Texas and the town of Marfa. Acquired by art gallery owner, a handwritten, original pre-purchase inspection report from buyer’s mechanic is included in the car’s document file. The current owner was on holiday in Marfa, West Texas and saw the car parked in the street. The car was in original condition with a very heavy patina from the many years over which it had clearly been driven. The body colour had been changed from Ruby Red to white. The internal colour was tan, although the surface condition of the upholstery had much deteriorated under the fierce sun. Arriving on Texas ‘white’ plates, the car was MOT’d and registered in the UK at Boreham Wood Test Centre on 1st October 2010 with new age-related registration number of 716 XUY. The brief for the restoration was to make the car highly serviceable and reliable and all the while not allowing over-restoration, that is to keep the style and patinas where possible of the car’s interesting American history. Thus, the appropriate Texan licence stickers have been retained on the windshield. Equally the original ivory dashboard knobs have been retained along with the original ‘transistor’ radio by the American Motorola company. (The Motorola radio is emblazoned with the sign ‘Transistor’ however, from the time this unit takes to ‘start up’ it clearly also includes the old valve technology. Full solid-state all-transistor car radios did not start until 1963 and so the radio on this car was clearly using early marketing of the transistor technology some time before it was comprehensively implemented.) A comprehensive list of works was carried out during the restoration, all of which is itemised in the car’s file. An abbreviated list of work is set out below. The car was invited to be displayed on the circuit grid at Goodwood in August 2019, where in an online public vote, the car was voted second favourite from the entire meeting. In 2018, the car was invited to be displayed by Jeff Zwart at the first Californian Lufgekhult meeting in GB, at Bicester Heritage and features in the Lufgekhult video of the meeting.