What do you do after the Summer of Love? If you’re Janis Joplin in 1968, you buy an Oyster White ’65 Porsche 356C convertible and have a pal paint it up in grand psychedelic style. With apologies to the 1970 917 Langheck that competed at Le Mans, this little bathtub earned the title of Original Porsche Hippie Car. Joplin’s band, Big Brother and the Holding Company, had left its initial mark the previous year, at the Monterey Pop Festival—an event also notable for having borne witness to Jimi Hendrix’s legendary Stratocaster flambé. Flush with a fresh record contract with Columbia, Joplin picked up the three-year-old 356C from Estes-Zipper in Southern California. She then left the car with fr
Rust may be free, but it can still be worth a lot. The decaying husk of a 1955 Porsche 356 Speedster that was left to rot for 41 years was sold this week on Ebay for over $152,701. According to the seller, the car was #212 of 1,700 built that year, and was parked by its previous owners in 1974 when it started making “ugly noises.” The 356 Speedster was originally created for the U.S. market at the behest of famed car importer Max Hoffman, but its chopped windscreen, Spartan trimmings, and lower price quickly made it a favorite of Porsche fans around the world. The bidding was fierce for this one, which was sold with a title and an engine, but it was neither original, nor installed. A spare w
