Porsche 356/2

The Porsche 356/2 is the first version of the Porsche 356 sports car, built between 1948 and 1951 and the first series production aluminum bodied sports car that Porsche made. It followed the one-off 356 prototype built at Gmünd in Austria. Ferry Porsche and Erwin Komenda designed it from Volkswagen Beetle components, on a welded steel box chassis with a light aluminum body, and the rear-mounted flat-four engine also came from the Beetle. It was offered as a coupe and as a cabriolet. Each car was hand built by a small team of craftsmen, and bodies were later outsourced to Tatra, Kastenhofer and Keibl in Vienna. Out of the first 52 chassis, 50 cars are known to have been built in Austria, and about 32 aluminum bodied cars survive. Early Porsche racing drivers used it in racing and rally events.