COP CAR WITH GLAMOUR
Your article on police sports cars (February) raised a wry smile, because I bought one. Mine was a 1959 Porsche 356A Cabriolet, which I found in 1987 and wanted because it was a convertible, not because of the Austrian police provenance.
Police cars should have a big caveat emptor notice. First, they lead hard lives in service, despite regular maintenance, racking up huge miles so engines, bodywork and running gear may be worn or past their best. Second, they differ in many subtle details from the cars they are derived from, with unusual wiring harnesses and impossible-to-find electrics such as sirens, lights and stop signs. Third, do you really want to drive around looking like a policeman? And, once you have cluttered it up with a mock-up of a two-way radio, who are you gonna call?
In 1987, I already had a 356A coupé that I’d restored and I was embedded in the 356 world, knowing the characters who could rebuild engines or supply bits. I had started to write a column in the Porsche Club GB magazine and organise events for the 356 fraternity. When I told them about my discovery, then a kit of parts in a factory in western Austria, I was told not to touch it. But I saw it with those typical rose-tinted specs. It was said to be complete, there was surprisingly little rust and I was excited about the police history.
A trip to the factory in Stuttgart was beneficial. Initially, Porsche denied the existence of 356A police cars, but a trawl in the archives produced a picture of my car in the snow, with the hood down (with it up, seeing out is quite tricky). It also turned out to be the only survivor of 17 cars, three Austrian and the rest split between Zurich and Rhine forces, and thus a real rarity.
So I drove to Austria in my wife’s Mitsubishi Space Wagon and picked it up on a trailer loaned to me by the vendor. Living in London and working as a consultant surgeon, the restoration took the best part of a decade. The car was worked on by all the big names in the English 356 world, sadly all no longer with us. I had it done as a normal Cabrio, because it proved impossible to find such things as 6V Hella blue lights and sirens, despite them being used on more common VW ambulances – although a friend did find a ‘STOP’ sign at a German specialist breaker.
It wasn’t much fun. It was sluggish and didn’t ‘dance’ like my coupé, because it was worn out and the front suspension had major damage.
