The Porsche 356 SL marks the start of Porsche’s factory-supported motorsport history. It secured the brand’s first class victory at Le Mans in 1951. Even after 75 years, parts of its story remain unresolved.
A new episode of the Raceborn Moments series on the Porsche YouTube channel explores a 356 SL from the company collection, using files, photographs and historical records.
The 1952 car has never left Porsche’s ownership, yet relatively little has been documented about its history. Frank Jung, Head of Corporate Archive and Collections, said understanding this car requires studying the history of the other cars as well.
Project “514” and the Early Build
The story starts in 1950, when Racing Director Paul von Guilleaume proposed an international race entry to Ferry Porsche. At the time, production had only just begun in Stuttgart and the first cars had gone to dealers, so a racing programme was not yet practical.
For the 356 SL, Porsche used aluminium bodies left over from the Gmünd era, some of them made by Tatra in Vienna. Internal documents call the project “514,” a designation that originally referred to the engine type. In 1951, five 356 SL cars were built.
Four more followed in 1952 from additional aluminium bodies, bringing the total to nine. One 1952 car stayed with Porsche and was used for racing and testing for years. It now belongs to the company collection.
Reconstructing Identity From Archive Evidence
Continuous ownership does not settle a car’s identity on its own. The archive contains several numbering systems, and the Tatra body numbers allow researchers to trace individual bodies across documents.
Evidence came from several sources: notebooks by racing engineer Wilhelm Hild covering both cars and their races, financial records showing how many bodies remained available, motorsport registration papers and notes from early Porsche engineer Karl Rabe.
The team compared these with its photographs, expert findings, published literature and private sources. Achim Stejskal, Head of Porsche Heritage and Museum, said the episode shows how the team reaches its findings as well as the car’s story.
Six 356 SL cars are known today. Three are in the United States, and one each is in Mexico and Belgium. The 1952 car in Porsche’s collection is the only one of the nine built that has stayed in continuous company ownership.