Driving a good 356 is an adventure in being in control of a highly refined machine. Unlike Corvettes, front-engined Ferraris, MGs, Triumphs, Healeys, or Jaguars, the 356 is big on the inside, small on the outside, and a joy to drive due to the light feel and highly developed responsiveness. There is no other car on the road that makes you feel quite as in control as a 356. Even a 911, which owes much to the 356, seems a bit beefy and ponderous in direct comparison. The 911 is about power; the 356, finesse. You sit in a 911 and there are distinct boundaries between the car and you; the 356 feels like it was molded around you.
Porsche worried a great deal about control feel and ergonomics decades before the rest of the world caught on. In a good 356, all inputs are light, silky, and progressive. The unassisted steering is one of the best in the world, bar none. It requires a light touch and delivers just the right amount of feedback from the road, not so much that you tire from making constant adjustments yet plenty to let you know what the front wheels are doing. The steering has virtually no play yet does not bind or feel heavy. Move the wheel just a bit, and the car responds. If you are familiar with period American cars, the difference in steering precision and feel will simply amaze you.
The clutch should be as light as a feather. The transmission in a 1960 or newer car is the standard by which all others are judged, the classic knife through butter. The effort required to push the throttle should be modest, as the accelerator linkage consists of a carefully designed system of ball and socket joints aimed at precision and control without heaviness. The brakes should be firm and responsive. Take a careful look at the design of the shift knob, and the way it fits into your hand just so. Part of the joy of these cars is the tremendous care lavished on all the control interfaces.
A proper 356 possess plenty of power to drive at all legal speeds effortlessly. But 356s develop power higher in the rpm range than other sports cars with larger engines. Porsche retained the 1.6 liter engine capacity throughout the 356 A, B and C range due to the European system of taxation based on engine size and the high cost of retooling against their small production volume. As a result, particularly in the higher horsepower ratings, the engines need to be spun at high revs to realize their power. For example, 4,000 to 5,500 rpm is the fat part of the power band for the Super-90, the high horsepower street engine from 1960 - 1963. This is a different feel than most American or British car owners are used to.
For many, winding a 356 up the rev range becomes a wonderful habit, even a bit hypnotic, as the car begs to be driven hard and delivers great fun when pushed. It is a car that can be driven to its limits without breaking every speed law on your way to work. This characteristic is one of the reasons why many race car drivers of the period often chose Porsches for their street cars, and why legendary automobile journalists Denis Jenkinson and Denise McCluggage spent many years and miles behind the wheels of 356s. Their writings whet the appetite of thousands of fans fascinated with the devotion the 356 engendered.
Much has been written about the tendency of rear engined cars to oversteer, which means that the rear end skids unexpectedly outward during a turn. While this is true at the limits of tire adhesion, for any normal road speeds, no one but the most ham-fisted driver will ever notice anything of the sort on dry pavement.
Rather, you should find a solid, glued-to-theroad feel. The way to learn about the handling limits of a 356 is to take one out on ice or snow, in an open parking lot, or to a Porsche Club driver’s event. In these conditions, you can experience how to kick the tail out almost at will. But with a properly sorted suspension, no tricky or adverse handling traits should be evident.
One thing that strikes most newcomers to the 356 is the “tightness” of the car: its lack of creaks and moans, its quiet over bumpy railroad tracks, its stability, and the degree of control imparted to the driver. This is partly because the 356 has an integrated body and chassis. Unlike many cars of its day, there is no separate frame on a 356. This makes the Porsche feel as if made out of a single piece of metal.
Many of its peers were either too fragile to be driven daily or too lacking in finishing touches, such as roll-up windows and effective windshield wipers to be taken seriously for daily use. Their builders seemed most interested in building either fun open-air toys or race cars meant to be occasionally driven on the street. But the 356 is a high performance car still fully qualified to drive to work everyday.
And many of us around the country still do that. Here in the Midwest, I have a small fan club that keeps an eye on my parking place in downtown South Bend, Indiana to see which Porsche I selected for my daily commute. The worst any 356 has done to me is to break a fan belt, and that was my own fault as I failed to notice a burr on the fan belt pulley left by a wayward mechanic. We have taken our 356s all over the Midwest without any breakdowns; others drive cross country; there is one famous 356er who is logging 500,000 miles in his Speedster. These are tremendously rugged, usable cars, which is one of the major reasons why they remain such a source of pleasure for their owners.