Porsche 356 Returns to Stuttgart in Epic Homecoming
Owner of 1953 356 celebrates Porsche’s 70th anniversary with 10,000-mile solo journey from Japan to Germany.
There are many ways to celebrate an anniversary. Porsche, for example, is throwing itself a big, year-long celebration around the world to commemorate 70 years of building, racing, and selling the finest sports cars in the world. From Monterey to Stuttgart to your nearest coffee shop, wherever Porsches gather, so, too, does the celebratory spirit surrounding Germany’s most famous export.
For one man, though, the platinum anniversary of Porsche was as good as time as any to make a journey to celebrate in Stuttgart. Thus, Toshiyuki Suzuki of Chiba, Japan took his 1953 356 “Pre-A” coupe on a journey of a lifetime.
On an early April morning in 2018, Suzuki set to cover nearly 10,000 miles “across some of the most inhospitable terrain our planet has to offer, through remote mountain ranges, dust-filled deserts, across swollen rivers and broken roads,” all on his own, all in his 356.
A Porsche fan since 22, the now-60-year-old Suzuki purchased his 356 15 years ago, and has gone to great effort to rebuild the vintage coupe. Under the hood is a refreshed 1,582cc engine from a later 356 SC model, putting out all of 95 horsepower to the rear wheels through the car’s original, rebuilt transmission. Newer bucket seats, an aftermarket sat nav, and a roof-mounted box with spares and oil are among the few mods and additions Suzuki made for the journey ahead.
His journey began April 18 in Japan, leading to a ferry ride to and from South Korea to complete the long remainder of the overland trek to Stuttgart from Vladivostok, Russia. Suzuki’s longest day of driving covered around 652 miles, while somewhere along the way, he lost first gear; without any way to repair the gear, he simply did without.
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