“Barn find” has become a cliché in the vintage car world, but every once in a while you get lucky and find a car that no one knows about… one that has been tucked away for many, many years .
We heard a rumor at a cocktail party almost three years ago about some “old Porsche that was sitting in a garage in California”, its owner now long deceased. With a lot of detective work and tons of patience, we were finally able to acquire this very rare 1959 Porsche 356 Convertible D. And rare isn’t the half of it: the gentleman who car had owned the car was the sole owner from 1959 until now and the dozens and dozens of pages of documentation he meticulously filed away verifies everything.
The owner was a Navy fighter pilot stationed in Tokyo during the 1950’s. He decided to buy himself a Porsche and ship it back to the states, and so he did. Indeed, he kept the original purchase order and bill of sale from Mitsuwa Motors, a Japanese Porsche dealer. His military background may explain why he was so fastidious about the car and about keeping all of his service records over his 54 years of ownership.
We feel privileged to have found this great car and had the opportunity to get it back on the road again.