A New 356B 12-Month Low

Good Morning! It looks like Friday saved our week as we finally top $1m in sales and have a sell-through rate close to where we typically average, although still shy of cracking 70%.

In other news, I take off tomorrow morning for Porsche Parade in Palm Springs. It’s going to be a hot one, especially as I crawl under 356s during Monday’s Concours. If you see me, please say hello as I’ll have some SML stickers for you.

THE MARKET

Sell-Through Rate (STR): 67%
Market Volume ($): $1,354,185
Market Volume (Units): 24

TOP SALES

1997 Porsche 911 Turbo X50 $270,000 Bring a Trailer
1979 Porsche 911SC Coupe RSR Tribute $150,000 PCARMARKET
2004 Porsche 911 Turbo Cab. 6sp $101,000 Bring a Trailer
2009 Porsche 911 Turbo Cab. 6sp $100,999 Bring a Trailer
1965 Porsche 356B Coupe $98,500 Bring a Trailer

SPOTLIGHT

356B T5 1600 Karmann Notchback Coupe. That’s a lot of letters numbers and words for a car, so what does it all mean? Well, we’ll take care of the obvious first, this is a 356 Coupe with a 1.6-liter engine. The B designates significant styling and technical upgrades over the previous generation of 356. The T5? That would be the body type, visually separated from the T6 by one grill vs. two. Karmann was the manufacturer that took what is basically a 356 Cabriolet body and welded a hardtop in place giving it the “Notchback” look.

Now when you put it all together you get one of the rare 356 varients as fewer than 100 examples of the B T5 Notchback Coupes exist today. The market however doesn’t take the rarity into account when pricing these cars as they trade for roughly the same as your standard 356B T5 Coupe, probably due to the fact that it is a bit of a departure from what most think a 356 Coupe should look like.

This 1961 356B T5 1600 Karmann Notchback Coupe is finished in Signal Red over Tan leather and shows 56,360 (TMU) miles on the odometer. Originally an Ivory car, this 356B was the subject of a restoration 20 years ago and has a T6 engine from another 356B. The paint shows well for the age of restoration as does the interior, putting this 356B in solid driver condition.

It sold yesterday on Hemmings online auctions for $62,000, making it the lowest sale of a 356B T5 we’ve seen over the last twelve months, but not by much. Other driver quality 356Bs, but in your standard Coupe configuration, have sold for just a hair more, but the Notchback and choice of auction venue brought the price a tad lower IMO. Either way, $62,000 is a pretty good deal for a driver 356 no matter the variant. Well bought here and I know it will be well-enjoyed by its new owner.

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