Porsche 356 Sales & Production Numbers

Porsche 356 Production & Chassis Numbers (1950 – 1965)

The evolution of the 356 was constant throughout its production history. Changes were introduced in the middle of a model year, necessitating inspection of the manufacturing year as well as the sales model year to really understand the total production numbers. This analysis therefore is directionally correct, but I would take it with a grain of salt that it took a lot of manual work and isn’t perfect. 

The 15 year production period ranged from Early 1950 until September 1965. The Coupe and the Cabriolet were build during the from the beginning to the end, the Speedster was apart of the product line from September 1954 until August 1958, it was replaced by the Convertible D from August 1958 until September 1559, which was then substituted by the Roadster until September 1961, from Spring 1961 the hardtop Coupe was available until Fall 1961.

The were four broad “generations” of 356:

• Porsche 356 (later renamed 356 Pre-A). 1950 until October 1955, as Coupe and Cabriolet and from 1954 until August 1958 as Speedster, with the following engine options: 1100, 1300, 1500 and 1500 S.
• Porsche 356 A. 1955 October until 1957 Type T1, from 1957 Type T2 1959 October, as Coupe and Cabriolet and from 1955 until August 1958 as Speedster which replaced by the Cabriolet D until 1959 September, with the following engine options: 1600, 1600 S, 1600 GS Carrera “de Luxe” and 1500 GS Carrera “Gran Turismo”
• Porsche 356 B. The 356 B T5s ran from 1959 September until 1961 September, as Coupe, Cabriolet and Roadster and from Spring 1961 also as Hardtop Coupe, with the following engine options: 1600, 1600 S, 1600 S 90 and 2000 GS. The 356 B T6s went from 1961 September until 1963 July, as Coupe, Cabriolet, Roadster and Hardtop Coupe, with the following engine option: 1600, 1600 S, 1600 S 90 and 2000 GS.
• Porsche 365 C. 1963 Juli until 1966 September, as Coupe and Cabriolet, with the following engine option 1600 C, 1600 SC.

The first car to bear the Porsche 356 name was road-certified on June 8, 1948. It was a Porsche 356/1 Roadster produced in Gmünd, Carinthia, Austria. The “Gmünd Roadster” was powered by a 1.1-liter air-cooled flat-four engine from Volkswagen. The engine’s power was increased to 35 hp for the 356. The roadster weighed just 585 kilograms and reached speeds of up to 135 km/h (83 mph). Over 50 Gmünd cars are built and sold primarily in Austria and Germany. By 1950 the factory was relocated to Stuttcart-Zuffenhausen, next to the Reutter coachworks and production begins on the 356.

356’s produced prior to 1955 are also called “pre-A”. Early cars easy to recognize from its two-piece windscreen divided by a center bar. This was replaced by a single-piece windscreen with a center bend as of model year 1952. Beginning in the 1956 model year, the letter A was added to the model line and the car was comprehensively updated, becoming known as the 356 A. For the 1960 model year, the 356 A was replaced by the redesigned 356 B. In 1964, the 356 C replaced the 356 B. The last Porsche 356 C was delivered in May 1966 finishing the 1965 model year run.

Total 356 model production all years came to about 78,000 units.

Porsche 356 Production by Year

Porsche 356 Production Details

Below is a table of total production numbers for each manufacturing year as well as details for the models. These numbers are derived from chassis serial number ranges. Represented in these figures but not broken out are the engine types: “Normal”, “Super”, “S90”, “Carrera” and “Carrera 2”. This extra info will require difficult investigation into the Kardex data on all cars.