I acquired this 1955 Speedster nearly 9 years ago. It was imported into the UK nearly 30 years ago. The car has some history dating back to the mid-seventies. It was a Hoffman delivered car in November 1955. Chassis number 81045, red with beige interior. It originally had a 1600 unit (60133), as its right on the cusp of the change from ‘pre A’ to ‘A’. There was a colour change at some stage to signal yellow (which it still is today). When the car landed in the UK in the late 80’s it had a 60’s ‘hot rod’ look - all chrome work was painted black, Fuchs wheels and disc brakes. It still has a Sun Tachometer Transmitter tucked away under the dash. Sadly, the original engine didn’t reach the UK shores.
As you can see from the recent photo, the car has undergone some re-commissioning over recent years and I’m slowly putting the car back to something near to the original spec. I have no plans to change the colour, as it does put a smile on people’s faces!
It is known that the car spent the seventies and early eighties in Long Beach California. It was originally owned by a Dr. Dewitt Talmage Collier. He was an anesthesiologist in the CA area and I have addresses for him at Costa Mesa, 996 Redondo Ave and Elm Ave Long Beach. The US license plate number was 891 LQC. I have a number of the old service documents from the 70's from places such as Hilwal Motors, John's Place in Long Beach, Red Line Santa Monica, Porsche Alternative in Westminster, Porschop in LA. The final chapter of the Speedsters history before it left the US is that it appears to have been traded-in by the doctor in June 1988 for a 1959 356A (brown with tan interior) chassis number 108769.
I've exhausted all avenues to get in touch with the original owner over the past 9 years, so all I can hope for is some additional history on the car and may be trace the original engine 60133.
