Nearly 75 years after the very first Porsche 356 No. 1 Roadster received its general operating permit, the brand is celebrating by looking both ahead and behind. To do so, it’s created the Vision 357, a stunning and sleek modern interpretation of the 356 that sits atop a modern 718 Cayman GT4 RS platform and which answers the question what would the dream of a sports car of Ferry Porsche might look like today. To put it very lightly, the 356 was a smashing success to the point that Porsche had built roughly 78,000 units by 1965. It put the brand on the map and clearly continues to be a source of inspiration all these years later. That’s plainly seen in the Porsche Vision 357 concept.
Similarly to the 356, the Vision 357
features a wrap-around windscreen and adds black a-pillars to unite the window
surfaces. The grille pattern in the rear of the car and the round headlights at
the front both nod to the 356 too. Porsche sprinkled in lots of modern touches
too though. The door openers are concealed by the side windows. The headlights
feature the modern Porsche four-point light signet of production models. And
20-inch magnesium wheels sit at each corner reducing weight while providing far
more rigidity than the original wheels of a 356 could ever hope to.
It’s a lot more powerful than the 356 as well thanks to the same 4.0-liter six-cylinder engine that you’ll find in the 718 Cayman GT4 RS and which produces 493 hp and 449 Nm of torque, revving all the way up to 9,000 rpm. Porsche integrated intakes on each side of the car just behind the side windows and natural fiber-reinforced plastic (NFRP), the same as you’ll find on the Mission R is used for the side sills.
The car is on display starting January 25th, at VW Group’s DRIVE forum in Berlin. In fact, it’s the highlight
of a special exhibition called 75 Years of Porsche sports cars.” Notably, this
is an exterior design study only, at least for now. What that means is that
there’s no corresponding interior and no public plan to build anything like it
for production. That’s a shame too because we bet they’d sell like hotcakes.
