The Sauter Porsche – one of one

One car on display as part of the special single-marque exhibit at the Petersen Automotive Museum entitled ‘The Porsche Effect’ is this modified 1951 Porsche 356 known as the “Sauter Porsche.” While the car’s history does not include any major racing victories, it is a remarkable story and the significance of its impact on Porsche design is undeniable.

In 1951, Heinrich Sauter, the young heir of the German Hahn + Kolb toolmaking firm based in Stuttgart, purchased Porsche 356 cabriolet chassis #10359. The rear-engine, rear-wheel drive 356 powered by an air-cooled flat four-cylinder engine was Porsche’s first post-war production car. Sauter’s car was powered by a 1300 cubic centimeter (CC) (79 cubic inch) engine advertised to develop 44 horsepower, plenty of power to push along the lightweight 1290-pound machine.

Sauter was a racer who competed mainly in hill climbs and rallies, and he wanted more performance so he contacted Karosserie (coachbuilder) Klenk in Frankfurt Germany to modify his 356. Klenk had close ties to the Porsche factory and installed a new larger Porsche 1500S (1500 CC or 91 cubic inches) engine which developed 55 horsepower, but the important change was the new steel low-profile bodywork.

 

 

 

With input from the factory, Klenk built a body with “suicide” (front opening) doors, a new panel to fill in for the missing convertible top, air ducts to cool the front brakes, small competition windscreens, ducts at the rear to allow air out of the engine compartment and an external fuel tank filler.      

Records indicate that Sauter raced the car sparingly before his sold it back to the Porsche factory and during 1952 it was raced across Europe by Frenchman Francois Picard, before it was sold to American Jack Armstrong. Armstrong shipped the car to the Unified States and it was raced on the West Coast in 1953 by Stan Mullin in SCCA (Sports Car Club of America) events at Santa Barbara and Long Beach. Armstrong himself drove the Sauter 356 at the August 1953 races held at Moffett Field Naval Air Station near Mountain View California.

 

 

 

By the time of the SCCA Orange Empire National Sports Car Races held at March Air Field in November 1953, Mullin and Armstrong were listed as partners in the ownership of the special-bodied Porsche. Mullin became the owner/driver in 1954, and after a single appearance at the March races held at Minter Field in Shafter California, the Sauter Porsche dropped from sight.

 

Porsche factory photo of a 356 America

 

While not a great success on the racetrack, the ground-breaking styling of the Sauter Porsche inspired three subsequent Porsche 356 designs. In 1952, Porsche built a small series (less than 25) of cars destined for the North American market known as the “356 America Roadster.” Clad with an aluminum body built by Dresden-based Gläser-Karosserie with cut-down doors and a removable windshield, the “America” a true roadster with no permanent top or roll-up windows weighed 1330 pounds. However, the cost of production was higher than expected and reportedly coachbuilder Glaser lost money on each body. In the end the high-priced stripped down racing “America” sports car was a dismal commercial failure.  

 

 

 

In late 1954 in his New York City showroom designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, Porsche importer/dealer Max Hoffman unveiled the iconic “356 Speedster” which featured the design elements shown in the Sauter Porsche, namely a 1500 CC engine, a stripped down interior with no roll-up side windows and a cut-down windshield. Equipped with a minimal convertible top,  the “Speedster” was an immediate hit with over 4,100 Porsche 356 and 356A Speedsters built before production ended in 1959.

The Speedster appealed particularly to Hollywood celebrities. Before he traded it in on his Porsche 550 Spyder death car, actor James Dean owned and raced a white 1955 Porsche 1500 Super Speedster, chassis # 80126, and won one race at Palm Springs in March of 1955. “The King of Cool” Steve McQueen owned and raced a black 1959 Porsche 1600 Super Speedster serial number 84855 equipped with Rudge alloy knock-off wheels and won a SCCA novice race at the Goleta airport course on Memorial Day 1959.

 

 

The final Porsche production car that can trace its origins back to the Sauter Porsche is the 1955 Porsche Continental, the brainchild of North American Porsche importer Max Hoffman who thought that a plusher Porsche would appeal to the American market. In addition to a plusher interior and high-quality convertible top, the bodywork of the Continental, built by Stuttgart’s’ Karosserie Reutter, was accented by “Continental” in gold script on the front fenders, “turbine style” wheel covers and whitewall tires.  Within the first year however, the name of the car was changed to “European” reportedly after the Ford Motor Company explained that they held the rights to the “Continental” trademark for automobiles.    

The history of the Sauter Porsche itself fast forwards to 1982 when an Indianapolis physician Dr. Ray Knight bought a strange “Porsche/Volkswagen hybrid” from a rural eastern Indiana junkyard. Reportedly the car had been stored outside since 1958 and was fitted with an incorrect albeit blown engine, but Knight paid $4,500 for the car and then set out to research its history and restore the car.

Knight tracked down the car’s provenance through interviews with Sauter, Klenk and Mullin and spent nearly 4,000 man-hours to bring the car up to the level of finish we see today. Several years ago Knight sold the car to collector Phil White, and Dr. Knight donated half of the “high six figure” proceeds to his alma mater Wabash College. Under Mr. White’s ownership the Sauter Porsche won an award as the “best open 356” at the Porsche Club of America 2017 Werks Reunion in Monterey California.  

Color photographs by the author