The oldest known Porsche originally sold in North America — a Strawberry Red 1952 356 Cabriolet — was recently found during the Porsche Classic Search, Porsche said.
The search, which was launched in August, was initiated to celebrate Porsche’s 60th anniversary. It invited North American Porsche owners to submit their cars’ documentation to the company if they thought their Porsches were the oldest originally sold in North America from each model line.
Dr. Robert Wilson of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma owns the award winning 1952 356 Cabriolet, but keep in mind that it was the oldest North American market 356 found. Max Hoffman, the famed Austrian business man who imported the very first Porsches to North America, started importing them into New York in 1950. Wilson’s was imported by Hoffman in November 1952. Wilson found the car in a salvage yard years after it arrived in the U.S. and restored it.
The oldest Porsche found in North America is a blue 1950 356 Cabriolet, owned by Richard Brumme of Annapolis, Maryland. According to Porsche, this was one of the first series production 356s built at the Stuttgart factory after Porsche relocated from Gmünd, Austria. This 356 was also restored.
Each of the 12 owners of the oldest Porsches from each model line will be given an exclusive badge from the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart. Photos of their cars will be on display at the museum’s “Sixty Years of Porsche in America” exhibit which opened October 12.
Brumme’s 1950 356 will be on display in the Porsche section at this year’s Los Angeles Auto Show.
This is the full list of the oldest Porsches originally sold in North America across all 12 model lines (for pictures visit www.Porsche60years.com):
356 1952: Robert Wilson of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
911 1965: Barry August of Clarksville, Maryland
912 1965: Steve Torkelsen of Wilton, Connecticut
914 1970: Ralph Stoesser of Marco Island, Florida
924 1977: Jay Hoover of New Haven, Indiana
928 1977: Jim Doerr of Richmond, Virginia
944 1983: John Denning of Covington, Washington
968 1992: Jeffrey Coe of Trumball, Connecticut
Boxster 1997: David Adrian of Worcester, Massachusetts
Cayenne 2004: Adam Reichard of Magnolia, Texas
Carrera GT 2005: Robert Ingram of Durham, North Carolina
Cayman 2006: Eugenie Thomas of Martinez, California
