Porsche has made a lot of fantastic cars over the decades, but some models stand out as being particularly special. The 1950s-era 356 Speedsters are among the most sought-after vintage Porsches, bringing well into six figures when they come up for sale. There are certainly some owners of these cars that treat them as an investment, but there are others who enjoy them as they were meant to be enjoyed, by driving them. Matt Peckham fits into the latter group with his very original 1955 pre-A Speedster, which he’s formed a close relationship with after many years of ownership.
American sports car importer Max Hoffman was instrumental in Porsche bringing the Speedster to America. He saw the growing popularity of British roadsters that were all the rage in the years after World War II and convinced Porsche to build the pared-down and performance-oriented Speedster, which had a more raked windscreen and lower doors than the 356 Cabriolet, as well as side curtains instead of roll-up windows. It had fewer comfort features, weighed in at just 1,700 pounds, and was offered at a price of under $3,000 ($35,000 in 2024 dollars) when it was first produced in 1954.
The car you see here was produced on December 29th, 1955, and is one of the last pre-A Speedsters that left the factory before the 356A Speedster started production in 1956. Amazingly, this car has had only four owners in its nearly 70 years of existence and has always lived within 200 miles of the European Motors dealership in Rossville, Pennsylvania that sold the car to its first owner on February 4th, 1956. The original owner lived in Pennsylvania and owned the car for several years before selling it to the second owner in Maryland in the early 1960s. The car then went to Mark Turczyn in Maryland, who sold it to current owner Matt Peckham in 1999.
Being one of the last pre-A Speedsters built, Peckham’s car has some features that were part of the A-generation cars that came in 1956, including the engine. Most pre-A Speedsters had the 1,500-cc “546-2” powertrain, but this car has the “616-1” 1,600-cc engine from the 356A generation, which started to be put in Speedsters at the end of 1955. The Stork temperature gauge is also an interesting feature on this car. In the very early cars, the gauge went down into the dipstick, and in the 1500 Speedsters, it was bung-welded into the oil galley at the top of the engine. This car is a 1600 with the bung in the top of the engine like the 1500, so it is rare in that way. The chassis also has some unique traits.
“The fun thing about it is that the factory was kind of running out of parts, says Matt Peckham, “as evidenced by the fact that it has an A longitudinal [in the frame of the chassis structure] on one side and a Pre-A longitudinal on the other side, but it’s all factory welds.”
Peckham had owned other vintage Porsches before this one and got to know the previous owner through his involvement with the 356 model.
“In the late 1990s, I got to know Mark Turczyn,” says Peckham. “He worked for NASA as an engineer on the Hubble telescope program [Turczyn was a Senior Systems Engineer for the Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Project] and is a big 356 guy. He had this Speedster that was literally under his deck and under a cover, that he had bought from the second owner. I expressed interest in it, and it took about a year of talking before he agreed to sell it. That was in 1999.”
With three owners and low mileage accumulated over the four decades that the car existed before Peckham bought it, this Speedster is incredibly original.
“I’ve had a number of 356s over the years and a couple of Speedsters, but nothing that wasn’t rusty and ratty,” says Peckham. “This car had 38,000 miles on it when I bought it and was original except for the carpets.” The Speedster had only been repainted once in the original color by Turczyn in the early 1970s, which is the paint that’s still on the car today.
Peckham had period-correct carpets installed, had the engine and gearbox refreshed, and put 15-inch wheels on it instead of the original 16-inch wheels to get better tire availability, though he still has the original 16s as well.
“We put the same pistons and cylinders back in it and kept everything original with the car,” he says. “We understood how rare it was, and my intent was—and is—to use it as originally intended and not modify it. It’s rust-free, with all original undercoating. The car has evidence of having been Ziebarted [rust proofed] when it was newer, so that may have helped to preserve it.”
One of the most interesting stories about this 356 has to do with the owner’s manual and service book, which wasn’t with the car when Peckham bought it but amazingly found its way back by happenstance.
“My friend Pete Bartelli was sitting at my kitchen table one day and said, ‘I was just down at the Paterek’s [renowned Porsche restoration shop Paterek Brothers in New Jersey], and they have a late Speedster owner’s manual and service book, all in the maroon cover and in perfect condition,” recalls Peckham. “He said the serial number on it was 81197, which was my car! Sure enough, two miles from my house, John Paterek had the owner’s manual and service book. The first service of the car was done at 38 miles.”
This Speedster has a great patina due to its continued regular use. Peckham drives the car often and relishes taking it on longer trips.
“I’ve driven it back and forth across the country a couple of times,” he says. “In 2006, I was in the middle of a divorce. I jumped in the car and pointed it west, eventually ending up on the West Coast. I spent as much time off the interstates as I could possibly could. I remember going through the corn fields of Iowa as the sun went down and the fireflies came up alongside the road. We’ve gone from the East Coast to the West Coast and on 356 holidays. A year ago, my wife and I went to Helen, Georgia, to a 356 meet. We left Georgia at 6:00 a.m. and arrived at our house in New Jersey at 10:00 p.m., 812 miles later. You think about a car that old and being able to travel comfortably in it while blasting up I-81. It was fun!”
Another memorable trip closer to home took place in 2005 with his son John.
“The kids were young when I bought the car, so they kind of grew up around it,” says Peckham. “We’ve had other cars around, but the Speedster is the car. Mark Turczyn had named it Speedo, so it’s always been known as Speedo. In 2005, it turned 50 years old, so we took it back
to Max Hoffman’s building on Park Avenue. We drove it there on the 29th of December, which was the day it was manufactured, and got it to turn over 50,000 miles as it pulled up to the building.”
This Porsche doesn’t feel all that fast if you’re used to newer and faster cars, but it does have a great feel.
“The Speedster is a well-engineered, well-designed, and well-thought-out car,” says Peckham. “It’s not just its lighter weight but how that weight is placed. The 356 coupe has the center of gravity a little bit higher. The Speedster truly is a stripped-down car. The limits of grip are pretty low, but it’s fun, spirited driving, and for me, the car is fast enough. I don’t need all the accouterments. It works well for me, and driving it is entering the 1950s-era in sports cars.”
Peckham and his son, John, pose in front of Max Hoffman’s former dealership in New York City after the car reached 50,000 miles.
Driving a 1955 Porsche as much as Peckham does requires careful attention to maintenance, but he’s found the Speedster to be very reliable and easy to live with.
“There have been very few challenges with it, just the usual issues,” he says. “We keep it very well-maintained and stay on top of it.” The simplicity of the 356 Speedster makes it easy to work on. Maintenance has involved the usual oil changes and making sure everything is greased, as well as simple valve and carburetor adjustments. There’s no restoration in this car’s future, just preservation. “In my view, it’s not a show car, and I wouldn’t have it repainted unless it was needed for preservation purposes,” he continues. “I don’t want to be in the position to question whether I drive it or not.”
Peckham owns other vintage cars and other Porsches, including a 1973 911T, a 1984 928, and a 1996 993, but after 25 years of ownership, the Speedster is one that he plans to own for the rest of his life.
“I’ve always gravitated toward German cars,” he says. “This is the one I’ve had the longest, and it’s the last thing that will go. It has 64,000 miles on it now, and my goal is to put 100,000 miles on it before I die. I love the feel, balance, synergy, and connection with this car.”
