This 1958 Porsche 356 A Coupé turned out to be a forgotten factory one-off with a weird and wonderful backstory.
Adding to the excitement of buying a new-to-you car comes the unique stories of its existence on the road, whether it be a special edition model with rare options or a race-worthy classic with motorsport significance. And while you’d believe that most of these stories would be uncovered and advertised to add to the value, there are rare occasions when untold stories, for the better, unfold at the hands of the new owner. When Dutch collector Henk Spin picked up a weathered Porsche 356 A Coupé, he figured it would be a straightforward restoration.
But he realized this Porsche had a story as he began digging through the car’s odd details, like painted trim, non-standard toggles, and some unusual handwritten notes. A deep dive into Porsche’s archives confirmed that this example was one of just eight “Schmidt cars,” built for a quirky German engineer in the late 1950s. The discovery kicked off a ten-year rabbit hole of tracking down unrecognized parts, colors, and even documentation to bring this one-off back to its original shape, right down to the Porcelain White paint and an in-car phone system that somehow existed in 1958.
Reinhard Schmidt, the original owner, wasn’t your average Porsche collector. Working for ATE, he had enough pull to ask the factory for a laundry list of oddball features, most of which wouldn’t be seen on production cars for years. Stuff like rally spotlights, Carrera gauges, a Junghans clock by the tach, electric windshield washers, and a functioning car phone (which back then required its own license and cost as much as a second car). The result is a dashboard that looks more like a fighter jet than a sports car. The car was even featured in Christophorus back in the day, showing off just how strange and forward-thinking it was for its time.
Today, Spin’s 356 sits tucked away in his Porsche-filled garage, surrounded by a Macan, a Cayman S, and a soon-to-be-restored 911 T. But the “Schmidt car” clearly stands apart from the others. It’s the kind of build that came together with help from Porsche Classic and a lot of conversations with other obsessive owners and historians. Even the yellow “Versuchswagen” plates had to be replicated from old photos. This was a slow-burning research project that brought one very oddball Porsche back into the light. And now, 65 years after it left the factory, it’s finally telling its story again.
Source: Porsche
