1962 356B Carrera 2 GS

Before the name Carrera became widely used on Porsche’s 911, it had a much more special meaning as it denoted that Ernst Fuhrmann’s four-cam race engine was fitted in a 356. Originally developed for competition use in the 550 Spyder, the high-revving, more powerful engine eventually found its way into the 356 in 1954, where it took the overall win in the Liege-Rome-Liege rally.

Post-rally the Fuhrmann four-cam was deemed durable enough to be fit to a road car and the 356 Carrera was born. The racing engine offered a big jump in power, but also a big jump in price, therefor out of the tens of thousands of 356s produced, only a fraction had the Carrera engine out back.

This 1962 356B Carrera 2 GS is one such car. Originally a European-market example, our Spotlight car has spent the last 36 years in a private collection and has undergone a complete bare-metal restoration over the last two decades, having just been completed in December of last year. With just one mile on the odometer since completion, this is a fresh as fresh gets.

Originally finished from the factory in Ivory, the car was taken down to bare metal by Porsche fabricator Andy Elsener and repainted in Silver Metallic. It sports fog lamps, replacement glass, a driver-side mirror, rear reflectors, and a vented engine cover.

On the inside, the car has been refinished in Wine Red leather by Autos International of Escondido, California, and sports a wood steering wheel with ebony inlay, AM/FM radio, a VDO clock, and replacement VDO instrumentation.

Out back, the replacement Fuhrmann four-cam is a 2.0-liter GT-specification unit rebuilt and tested by Jacques Le Friant with a rebuilt four-speed manual transaxle equipped with a steel intermediate plate, BBAB gears, and a 12-bolt differential.

As you can imagine, with only one mile driven since restoration, this 356 Carrera 2 GS is in stunning condition. Which is why it’s such a surprise that it only reached a high bid of $300,000, where it failed to sell.

356B Carrera comps are few and far between, but those that we’ve seen over the last five years have averaged $475,000 with a high of $569,700 for an example sold in 2019 and a low of $360,068 in July of last year. Our most recent sale was another GS from The White Collection that brought $566,000 (with fees).

Although not a matching numbers example, Carrera engines alone are worth their weight in gold, so that was no reason for our Spotlight car to fall so short of even our five-year low. In this case, I believe it was the choice of venue, as it only saw three bids during the auction. Had this car been sold on a more popular online platform or even at a legacy sale, I think it would have given our high sale a run for it’s money. Hopefully we’ll see it again.

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