We don't normally do "Columns" per se here at Stoddard.com—trying to keep with the editorial "We" in our prose about products and events. That said, sometimes things make more sense when just told as a story. Here's a not-so-tall tale about how my dad briefly owned a 356 Carrera.
My dad, Pete, is the main reason I'm such a car nut. I've been autocrossing, road racing and restoring cars since I could drive—just like he did starting back in the 1950s. He bought and sold a wide variety of neat imported sports cars—some fast, some slow, but nearly all were unique and interesting. Part of our family lore was a story about how he briefly owned a real 356 Carrera that he bought from a scion of the Dupont family. There was a title issue and the car wound up going back into a barn and we all assumed that it was lost to history.
It was a neat story, but with my move from the automotive magazine business to the Porsche parts business last year, my interest in this legend became a little more piqued. I always like a good archeology story and this one certainly had the right ingredients: unique car, barn, rich guy...you get the idea. My dad and I even had some previous luck locating our LeGrand Mk18 sports racer after a few decades. Maybe we would get lucky again?
I queried my dad as to the car and its previous owner, but couldn't really find any information when searching "Jack Dupont" and Carrera. It wasn't until my dad found the original bill of sale from Mr. Dupont that we realized the path that the car took from there. The bill of sale was actually made out by Jacques Dupont and that French spelling of the common name clued us into the eventual disposition of the Carrera. It remained in Jacques' barn until 2004 when it was purchased by Chuck House, a chief ringleader in the 356 Registry.
Here's my dad's story, verbatim.
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"This is the story of my venture purchasing a Carrera in 1964.
The car was a silver 1956. It was owned by Jacques DuPont.
Jack was a partial owner of Brandywine VW and bought the Carrera for himself.
As I remember it, it had an aluminum hood, trunk and the doors.
He raced it at Vineland Motorsport Park in New Jersey. Back then you entered and ran without rollbars or nomex.
I used to go to Jack DuPont's house and in his garage was Stirling Moss's Keift 500 . It had an odd elastic cord suspension. There was also a 1956 Porsche 356 Carrera GS. Both were buried under dust and cardboard boxes.
I asked if he would sell the Carrera and he agreed to $2000.
I remember charging the battery putting gas in and hearing it run. At first it was obvious that the gas was old and the car needed a bit of tuning.
First the car had to go back to the VW dealer for a generator and plugs and to have the fuel tank cleaned out. As you know, they have to remove the engine to replace the generator. The process took time.
I eventually got to drive the Carrera around the area. Jack couldn't find the title and after pestering him for about a month I was getting uncertain.
My Dad kept telling me that it was a horrible idea and indicating that he wouldn't approve of the purchase. I was young and loved that Carrera ,the looks and the sound. The Four Cam sound was new to me.
The porcelain cooling shroud alone were worth putting up with Pop's negative comments.
Eventually I tired of waiting for Jack to come up with the title and he returned my $2000. I went and bought a Sprite.
We could say that the my backing out of a 1956 Carrera was stupid but we both know I wouldn't have treated it as it should have been treated. I was too young for the responsibility.
Oh boy, if I had that chance again................."
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There's a few things that I love about this story. One is that my dad was such a car nut and lived in a time when you really could meet legends (or their cars) on a regular basis. The second thing is that understanding that a 20 year old gearhead is probably not the best steward of a Four-Cam Carrera. Finally, it's absolutely awesome that the car stayed in that barn for another four decades before it was unearthed in 2004. And of course, it's great that the car's story is now being shared with other enthusiasts with Chuck bringing it back to light.
Here's Chuck House's listing on the 356 Registry of that very same car.
Bringing the story around full circle, Chuck had the car on display at Monterey a few years ago and here are some pictures that our Bruce Schwartz took of it in its recent form.
