By 1956, Porsche had manufactured 10,000 new cars, and its racing credentials had been firmly established with the help of strong finishes in the Carrera Panamericana.

To celebrate the Spyder’s class victories in 1952, 1953, and 1954 (the last bringing in a 1st and 2nd in class and a 3rd and 4th overall, behind the much more powerful 4.5- and 4.9-liter Ferraris), Porsche decided to install a slightly de-tuned version of the 550’s complicated 1.5-liter, four-cam, twin-plug racing engine into a limited number of production cars.

The new high-performance 356 A was introduced at the 1955 Frankfurt Motor Show as a 1956 model.

The new model would, of course, be named the Carrera—a name that has resonated to the present day as representing Porsche’s ultimate performance street machines.

The new 100-horsepower, Fuhrmann-designed, dry-sump, roller-bearing boxer engine, with chrome-plated cylinder bores and 8.1 compression—down from the Spyder’s 9.5—could be ordered in all three of Porsche’s...