Yahoo Autos 1954 Glöckler-Porsche 356 takes fringe Porsche history to Monterey
Porsche's factory team took its first international win at the 1951 24 Hours of Le Mans with a 356 Gmund SL Coupe, but privateers throughout the 1950s contributed the majority of wins and podiums. One such garagiste was Walter Glöckler, a Volkswagen and Porsche dealer as well as motorcycle and car racer in Frankfurt. With engineer Hermann Ramelow, Glöckler built seven custom racers, six of them using VW and Porsche parts hung off the pair's homemade tubular chassis. After the duo caught Porsche's attention, their sixth car, the 1953 Glöckler-Porsche 1500 Super, became a development chassis for the eventual Porsche 550. Their seventh and final car is this, the 1954 Glöckler-Porsche 356, created to race the 1954 Mille Miglia. It's headed for RM Sotheby's auction block during Monterey Car Week.
Based on a 1954 356 Pre-A chassis sourced from Porsche, Glöckler and Ramelow put an early iteration of the recently developed Fuhrmann flat-four boxer in back. This was the same engine developed for motorsports in the 550 Spyder, and Glöckler had a personal connection to it: Two 550s took the top two spots in their class at the 1953 24 Hours of Le Mans, one of them driven by Glöckler's cousin Helmut Glöckler. A four-speed manual transferred power to the rear wheels.
It's not clear why the designers fitted a coupe body. Hardcore factory racers of the time were almost all spyders, but Porsche privateers were still campaigning the Porsche 356 coupe. The roof wasn't the only unusual choice: There's the upright profile with sweeping, scalloped front fenders and tailfins; the novel door cutout that extends into the roof; the third, low-mounted headlight; and the split, wraparound rear window for keeping an eye on competition pulling up behind. Even more intriguing, the same man who penned the 550 bodywork, C. H. Wiedenhausen, designed this aluminum sheetmetal.
