Original vintage 1965 Porsche 356 advertisement, "We spent years developing a great competition car so you could have fun driving to work."
 
Dimensions: 4.8 inches wide by 11 inches high, mounted on 8.25 wide by 11.75 hard cardboard black backing.
 
Porsche’s first production automobile, the Porsche 356 is a sports car first produced by Austrian company Porsche Konstruktionen GesmbH (1948–1949), and then by German company Dr. Ing. h. c. F. Porsche GmbH (1950–1965).
 
The Porsche 356 is a lightweight and nimble-handling, rear-engine, rear-wheel drive, two-door available both in hardtop coupé and open configurations.  Engineering innovations continued during the years of manufacture, contributing to its motorsports success and popularity.  Production started in 1948 in Austria, where Porsche built approximately 50 cars.  
 
On 8 June 1948, the first car to bear the Porsche name was road-certified: the Porsche 356/1 Roadster produced in Gmünd (in Carinthia, Austria).  The "Gmünd Roadster" was powered by a 1.1-liter air-cooled flat-four engine from Volkswagen.  The engine's power was increased to 35 hp for the 356. The roadster weighed just 585 kilograms and reached speeds of up to 135 km/h (83 mph).  In 1950 the factory relocated to Zuffenhausen, Germany.
 
The original 356 (also called "pre-A") is easy to recognize from its two-piece windscreen divided by a center bar. This was replaced by a single-piece windscreen with a center bend as of model year 1952.  All 356 generations were also available in an open-top version (Cabriolet, Speedster or Roadster).
 
General production of the 356 continued until April 1965, well after the replacement model 911 made its September 1964 debut.  The original price in 1948 for the 356 coupe was US$3,750 (equivalent to $47,600 in 2023) (official general USD inflation), and of the 76,000 originally produced, approximately half survive.