The PORSCHE 356 european sl

In the 1950s, Max Hoffman almost single-handedly turned the American market onto the beautiful agile sports cars of Europe, including Porsche, BMW and Alfa Romeo. The exotic allure of cars from this part of the world was so enticing that Porsche even sold a number of 356s to the American market badged as ‘European’.

At Thornley Kelham we have looked back – reviewing the original design of the 356 chassis, developed around 1950, as the basis of our Porsche 356 European SL project. But we have done so looking forwards.  Our thorough examination of chassis strength and structure, of front and rear suspension systems, and of the steering and braking systems has led to a reengineering programme which can be individually tailored to match the purpose of each car.