Porsche 356 America Roadster vs. 2019 Porsche Speedster: Droptops New And Old

MotorTrend

Roadsters have been a part of Porsche history since its earliest days—since before even the Speedster. Jonny Lieberman had the chance to drive one of these proto-Speedsters alongside the latest and greatest

Transcript

00:00 (upbeat music)

00:02 Hi there.

00:09 I'm driving an incredibly special Porsche.

00:13 This thing, it's a 1953 356 America Roadster.

00:18 One of 17 ever made.

00:23 16 were aluminum like this one, one was steel.

00:28 This is the very last one ever built.

00:31 So this car is remarkably light and there's nothing to it.

00:39 It has headlights.

00:41 Actually, it didn't even have turn signal indicators

00:44 when it was new.

00:46 There's no door handles.

00:47 There's no windshield wipers, so I hope it doesn't rain.

00:51 But that's okay, this car was designed in California

00:54 for Californians by a Californian.

00:57 So it's cool, man, don't worry about it.

00:59 'Cause nothing's been drilled into this body.

01:04 It's extra gorgeous.

01:06 It's this sumptuous shape, just mind blowing.

01:09 So anyways, it's got a 1.5 liter flat four,

01:12 it's a little boxer that makes 70 horsepower.

01:16 Now that may not sound like a lot,

01:18 but remember the standard 356 made 40 horsepower.

01:23 So this was almost double.

01:25 And because this car has nothing on it whatsoever,

01:29 it weighs 1,334 pounds.

01:33 So it's shockingly light.

01:36 It's just you, an engine, and a steering wheel.

01:39 And it's wonderful, I love it.

01:42 So what's it like to drive?

01:45 Well, it's so analog.

01:50 Now, it's a complete handful.

01:53 You gotta be on it, and you gotta commit.

01:56 You gotta commit.

01:57 You're not gonna be making a lot of mid-course corrections

01:59 in this thing, but that's okay because,

02:02 you know, like most great cars, like all great cars,

02:06 let's just say it, it loves to be driven hard.

02:09 It wants to be pushed, and it feels better.

02:11 It feels more alive.

02:13 And it's so great 'cause you can just see,

02:16 I can actually put my head over the windshield,

02:20 so you can really see when you turn into a corner.

02:22 You can really get a good look.

02:24 But yeah, this thing is just a hoot.

02:26 But what we're doing here is we wanna see

02:29 how far the Speedster's been evolved, right?

02:32 So if this is the predecessor, right,

02:33 if this is the daddy of the Speedster,

02:37 where is it at now?

02:38 Well, what we're gonna do is we're gonna take a look at

02:41 the new Speedster.

02:44 Out of the 356 America Roadster

02:49 into the 991 Speedster.

02:53 Now, comparing the two, is there any similarity

02:57 besides lack of roof?

02:59 No, there's just kinda not.

03:03 Look, the 991 GT3, with a manual, I've long said,

03:08 is literally the best car ever made.

03:10 Sorry, every other car ever made.

03:12 It just kinda is, you know?

03:14 And this is an open-top version of that

03:16 with a slightly different engine.

03:18 So the four liter flat six, naturally aspirated,

03:23 in the regular GT3, 500 PS, German horsepowers.

03:27 This is 520 PS.

03:29 How individual throttle bodies, that's the big difference.

03:32 They're cuckoo clock expensive,

03:35 but if you are wealthy and you collect Porsches,

03:37 this is so totally worth it.

03:39 What a motor, I mean, 9,000 RPM redline,

03:44 manual transmission, life doesn't get better.

03:47 It actually doesn't, I've checked a lot.

03:49 Oh, why couldn't I have been rich?

03:52 (upbeat music)

03:55 (upbeat music)

03:58 (upbeat music)

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