On August 21, 2011 Road Scholars Restorations won 1st in Class at the 2011 Pebble Beach Concours. After a two-year restoration project for Hans Peter Porsche, Road Scholars debuted the 1949 Porsche Gmund Coupe to take First in Class in the Class O-2 Postwar Sports Closed.
See complete list of winners here: Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance Winners Announced.
If above video won’t load, click here to see Road Scholars co-owner, Cam Ingram, interviewed by Jay Leno about this Gmund Coupe.
Our sincere gratitude and appreciation goes out to Hans Peter Porsche and Rolf Sprenger for this incredible opportunity.
See the Gmund Coupe featured on Jay Leno’s photo gallery:
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- Cam showing the details of Gmund #045 to Dr. Wolfgang Porsche and Detleve Von Platen (CEO of PCNA)
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- Rolf Sprenger (Who started and ran The Porsche Exclusiv Programme) celebrates the win for Hans Peter Porsche
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- The Road Scholars Restoration Team- taking it all in.
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- Two lucky guys who started with a dream and worked hard
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- Alan Hogan- our mechanic and all around great guy
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- Hans Sahling- Our coachbuilder extraordinaire responsible for the beautiful Gmund body
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- Mr. Watts holding one of the ultimate concours trophies in the world
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- Brandon Terretti our parts manager and also final assembly guy
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- etleve Von Platen, Rolf Sprenger, and Prescott Kelly celebrate the victory
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- Jean-Noel – who ownes JNG creations celebrates the win for his interior work
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- Rolf Sprenger celebrates with Brandon Terretti with some champagne
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- Elegance at its best
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- A toast to hard work and dedication
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- Kevin Watts getting the party started
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- Emotional business partners
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- Incredible
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- A judge letting us know that we won 1st in Class
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- Some of the unbelievable competition in our class. 1953 Bosley Mark 1 GT (2nd) from the Peterson Museum and 1965 Ford Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe (3rd)
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- A big hug before the drive up to the podium
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- Cam showing the restoration book of Gmund #045 to Detleve Von Platen
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- Prescott Kelly being interviewed by Keith Martin of Sports Car Market Letter about the Gmund
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- Cam with Rolf Sprenger and the next generation of Porsche’s
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- Cam with the Judges
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- My father and best friend- standing behind Dr. Wolfgang Porsche’s Austro-Daimler
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- Jay Leno with the Road Scholars Team- Jay came over and interviewed us for his Garage site
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- Jay seemed genuinely impressed and owns a very nice 356 Carrera 2 model
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- Dr. Wolfgang Porsche and the Road Scholars Team after inspecting his brother’s Gmund
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- Rolf Sprenger and Randy Leffingwell bringing some much needed coffee
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- One last cleaning before judging
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- Early morning action
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- Alan and Cam- It’s a tight fit in a Gmund
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- The drive onto the lawn
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- Pebble Beach concours- 6:30AM and the team is ready
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- My niece Olivia, who rode out in the truck and trailer with the Gmund
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- Two days after winning at Carmel with other customer cars- Pressure at its best
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- Dan Wickett, Hans Sahling, and Brandon Terretti. We have an awesome and young team
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- Rolf Sprenger goes over the Gmund with Kevin and Cam
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- Hans Sahling celebrates with Dan Wickett of Hot Rod Construction, SC. Who was instrumental in this project
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- My mother and best friend. She taught me everything about being tough and to persevere
About Hans Peter Porsche’s 1950 356/2 Gmund Coupe #45
This rare 1950 356/2 aluminum bodied Porsche Gmund Coupe was one of the first production cars made in Gmund, Austria. It has the distinction of being the 45th Porsche built with chassis number 356/2-045.
The Gmund cars as they are known, truly represent the success story of Porsche. These arcane, yet skillfully built cars from Gmund, represent Dr. Ferdinand Porsche’s first clear statement of purpose for building personal sports cars.”
There was a total production of 52 units built in Gmund, with an additional 11 bodies created later for competition cars.
Chassis 356/2-045 completed and shipped to Scania Vabis in Sweden on July 18, 1950. Porsche would sell a combined 15 Gmunds to the truck manufacture Scania Vabis, which was also VW’s importer in Sweden. Chassis 356/2-045 would be apart of the last series of Gmund’s that were assembled at Tatra (Coachbuilder in Vienna) and finished at Porsche Salzburg.
We spent over 2000 hours researching different archives around the world and inspecting four different Gmund’s in person. It was a very interesting fact finding mission, with many differences found between each model. Indicitive of the limited resources during the time of production and post war Germany. It become evident during our inspections that the cotton binding that seperated the body from the chassis did not do much to protect the cars from electrolysis over the years.
Distinctive Features
Erwin Komenda displayed his mastery of automotive design with the shaping of the 356/2 coupe. Like most great car designs, it stayed true to its design and did not grow in proportions when built.
The first Porsche’s were hammered out over wooden bucks by craftsmen (Frederick Weber) in the little saw mill in Gmund.
The coupe’s most distinctive feature is its flowing fender lines and partially enclosed rear wheels. Its classic fastback roof line showed traces of the Type 60K10 that was designed for the 1939 Berlin-Rome Race. It has mechanical brakes and is powered by an 1100 cc, 40 horsepower air-cooled engine, with two Solex carburetors.
Original Components
This 1949 Gmund has the following original components:
- chassis #45
- motor #43
- body #35
During the dismantling phase of the restoration, we found the original red paint underneath the hood hinges and behind the door striker plates. We later confirmed in Porsche records that 356/2-045 was indeed painted red from the factory.