Porsche 356 Carrera Zagato Coupe Sanction Lost Is One of Just Two Built
Built as a tribute to an iconic race car and its late driver, this rare 356 Carrera Zagato Coupe Sanction has a cool story to tell.
In the world of Porsche, there are far more interesting and rare models than we can possibly list in one place. This is par for the course given how special the brand really is, of course, and this 356 Carrera Zagato Coupe is a pretty cool and somewhat obscure piece of its story. It all started back in 1957, when race car driver Claude Storez asked Zagato, an Italian coachbuilder, to create a body for his 356 Carrera Speedster that was lighter and more dynamic than the original, but the story takes a dramatic turn from there.
Things got off to a solid start for the 356 Carrera Zagato Coupe, as Storez finished second at the Tour de France’s Reims circuit stage, then scored a front grid starting position at the same track a few months later, quickly taking the lead before crashing at the track’s Thillois hairpin. The crash destroyed the car and ultimately led to Storez’s untimely passing. The Porsche disappeared afterward, but in 2010, notable collector Herb Wetanson approached Zagato about bringing back the Porsche Zagato Speedster in the 2010s.
The coachbuilder, having scanned original photographs of Storez’s car to recreate its stunning bodywork, dubbed these recreations “Sanction Lost,” though after discovering a concept drawing for a Zagato-bodied Porsche Carrera Coupe, the company decided to build a few of those to go along with the faithful Speedster recreations.
Zagato wound up building 18 of these cars – 9 Speedsters and 9 coupes, recreated to be as close to the originals as possible. However, only three of those cars featured a Carrera engine like the one Storez drove – one Speedster and two coupes – and that includes this particular example, which began life as a 1961 Porsche 356 B Coupe. Over two years, Zagato rebodied the car and delivered it in 2017.
All three of the Zagato Porsches bearing the Carrera engine were finished in Bianco Gardenia with Red highlights, just like Storez’s car. Recently, this one-of-two machine went up for grabs at RM Sotheby‘s London auction, where it hammered for £426,875 ($576,048 USD), which seems like a pretty reasonable sum for such a special and rare car, one that pays homage to one of the more storied – and interesting – racers in Porsche history.
Photos: RM Sotheby’s
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