Porsche’s brand is now closely associated with motorsport, especially renowned for its historical domination of Le Mans, but its post-war origins were more modest.

With its first pure-bred sportscar, the 550 Spyder, Porsche cleaned up in the 1,500 cc class at major endurance races including the Carrera Panamericana.

Thanks to the genius of Max Hoffman, Porsche’s leading US importer, the Speedster model had been wildly successful in North America.

Wishing to capitalise on their motorsport success in the region, Porsche launched the Carrera GS fitted with a road-adapted version of the Ernst Fuhrmann-designed four-cam engine, which had garnered so much success with the 550 Spyder.

From 1957, the model was available in either ‘de luxe’ form or a lightweight competition GT version.

According to a copy of its factory Kardex, this Speedster Carrera GS, chassis number 83492, was delivered new on 26 June 1957 to North America via Max Hoffman.

Specified in Silver Metallic over Black Leathe...