SPEED PLAY!

THE PORSCHE BRAND IS STRONGER THAN EVER WITH A LOYAL FOLLOWING TO MATCH, THE 356 HAS NO DOUBT CONTRIBUTED TO THE MARQUE'S SUCCESS

- DAVE MORLEY

In the world of early Porsches, the 356A Speedster is just about the holy grail, right? Exactly, the fact that it was the first of the low-windscreen convertible 356s, combined with that truly voluptuous early 356 body with the lower headlights and bumpers, means it's a seriously cool and expensive catch these days.

But - and there's always a but - if you actually want a car you can use, but still have 99 per cent of the cool and 100 per cent of the air-cooled, upside-down bathtub Porsche magic, then maybe there's an alternative you should be looking at. Hell, you might even save a few bucks into the bargain.

The car in question, of course, is the 356B Roadster. Mind you, don't be thinking this is some chump-change special; a 356 of any sort will kick a big hole in the household budget for the year.

And that's largely because any 356 - convertible, coupe, push-rod, quad-cammed, whatever - is about as magnificent and pure as classic motoring gets. So there's no need to turn this in to a he-said-she-said kind of thing, but it is worth noting the improvements the B Roadster brought to the table.

Starting at the start, the 356B Roadster was the replacement for the 356A Speedster. That said, it wasn't quite that simple, because in the time between 1958 when the Speedster was phased out, and the introduction of the 356B model in 1960, there was also what's become known as the Convertible D.