Origins:
Porsche 356 KARMANN HARDTOP

PORSCHE 356 KARMAN HARDTOP

Porsche motorcars, until midway through the 356C model, were always built by independent coach builders, mostly in the Zuffenhausen district of its hometown Stuttgart. The three coach builders that were responsible for all 356 series automobile since 1950 where Reutter, Karmann and finally Porsche. Reutter, prior to the 356,  built automobiles for Volkswagen, BMW, Mercedes and others while Karmann was exclusively a Volkswagen maker until 1961.

Porsche automobiles beganin Gmund Austria due to consequences of WWII.   Ferdinand Porsche had an engineering company in Stuttgart but then moved to Austria in 1944. During the time in Austria, the early 356 was designed and produced in very limited numbers. After WWII ended, Ferdinand Porsche moved back to the Zuffenhausen area of Stuttgart.  

In 1950, Porsche moved back to Zuffenhausen. They had to wait until the U.S. Army moved their motor pool operations from the factory to resume production of their cars. Once the space was available, Reutter Karroseriewerk was contracted to build the bodies for Porsche. Reutter remained the main coachwork for Porsche but in 1961 whn they began to share the manufacturing with Karmann. 

In 1961, Porsche was almost 2 years into the 356B model. The cabriolet had shown a decline in sales. The Karmann factory was asked to build a new model using the cabriolet body and the cabriolet hardtop. The two were joined to make a Karmann hardtop. The body style was unique and stood out as a lower version with a moveable 1/4 window and a notched back silhouette. In 1962, the T6 body was introduced with twin intake vents over the engine as well as fender petrol access and a larger rear window on the coupe. It is thought that a new hardtop body was introduced as a stamped unit for the 62 model year. The T6 hardtops would need no welding. This theory is highly doubted as the welds can still be found on T6 cars and the windshield is a T5 cabriolet fit. During 1961 through 1962, fewer than 1800 examples were made. This was Karmann’s first contract with Porsche. They continued fabricating all 356 models until well into the 356C model. Reutter became the sole producer of the 356C sometime around 1963 until Porsche finally took over production of the 356C model year in 1964.