Although Ferdinand Porsche had established his automotive design consultancy in the early 1930s, his name would not appear on a car until 1949.

When it did, it graced one of the all-time great sports cars: the Porsche 356.

Having commenced manufacture with a short run of aluminium-bodied cars built at Gmünd, Porsche began volume production of the steel-bodied 356 coupé at its old base in Stuttgart, at first in premises shared with coachbuilders Reutter and then (from 1955) in its original factory at Zuffenhausen.

The work of Ferry Porsche, the 356 was based on the Volkswagen designed by his father, and like the immortal 'Beetle' employed a platform-type chassis with rear-mounted air-cooled engine and all-independent torsion bar suspension.

Regularly revised and updated, Porsche's landmark sports car would remain in production well into the 911 era, the final examples being built in 1965.

Cabriolets had been manufactured right from the start of 356 production, but the first open Po...