Historic 356 Racer Heads Back To Where It all Began

High Miles

While there are many high-mileage Porsche 356s out there in the world, few compare to this special 356 A 1600 GS Carrera GT racer. With over a half-million kilometers on the odometer, this legendary machine has proven that it's capable of going the distance, time and time again, competing in iconic events like the Mille Miglia in Italy, the 1,000 Kilometers of Nürburgring, and the Targa Florio in Sicily. Luckily, it has survived all that to tell its fascinating story.

Photos: Porsche

Revisiting the Past

Marc Lieb - an overall winner at Le Mans and a former WEC champion - recently got the chance to drive this amazing car around the beautiful scenery Rome has to provide as Porsche relived its impressive past. The story begins in 1959 at the Liège–Rome–Liège rally, which covered 5,000 kilometers, a grueling event in which only 14 cars out of 104 managed to finish. 

Photos: Porsche

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Tracing Roots

This 356 wasn't just one of those 14 cars, it was also the overall winner of the event with Paul Ernst Strähle and Robert Buchet behind the wheel for a whopping 86 hours. Regardless, it was Herbert Linge who can be credited for this and Porsche's subsequent motorsports success. After starting out as an apprentice in 1943, he became a race mechanic, a racing driver, established the automaker's customer service organization in the US and was ultimately a guiding light in this car's development.

Photos: Porsche

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Impossible to Replicate

"We drove Liège-Rome-Liège full bore, day and night, nothing was closed off - completely mad, and completely unimaginable today," Linge said of the legendary rally. "You could only finish Liège-Rome-Liège as a good team. We alternated about every three hours. You had to be able to sleep in the passenger seat. Strähle could do it. At control points I would sometimes put on his hat and sign for him - he never knew a thing. I, on the other hand, barely got a wink of sleep."

Photos: Porsche

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Catching Wind

"They knew that I had some previous knowledge from motorcycle races as well, which is why they entrusted me with it," Linge said. "In the early days, we built three or four cars a day. After the test drive, I had to report to Ferry Porsche that evening which of them were okay and which ones had to go back into the shop." The factory racing and rally drivers caught wind of Linge's skills as a mechanic, and by 1954 he was a sought-after second man in long-distance races. "They said to Herr Porsche: 'When Linge's on board, he takes care of everything.'"

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Beginning of Something

These relationships eventually spawned a race car that contained only the good stuff, and even that was relentlessly improved over the years by the two friends. After finishing work, Linge would head over to the Strähle workshop to tinker away. In 1957, the new 1.6-liter Carrera engine was installed in the car with his assistance. "We always had the best material! Sometimes we were able to install parts that the factory hadn't even finished testing," Linge said. "Shock absorbers and stuff like that." As a test driver, he was well aware of the advantages of certain components. In 1957, the two scored the victory for the 356 with the class win and a 14th-place overall finish in the Mille Miglia. Many more would follow before Strähle stopped racing in 1964.

Photos: Porsche

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Same but Different

While the scene in Rome has certainly changed since 1959, this legendary 356 is still an attention grabber. Passers-by-wave, two police officers give a thumbs-up as the Bella machine hums past with its inimitable sound. The buildings of the Via Appia Antica function as a soundbox. "Everything we are is an evolution of the past," Lieb says, poetically. "500,000 km under the hood, the old seats, the cockpit - everything is different and yet so familiar. You drive off and feel immediately: this is a Porsche!"

Photos: Porsche

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