About.com has just posted my test of the 2007 Porsche Cayman. In it I mentioned a variation on the porsche 356 that few contemporary Porsche enthusiasts can recall seeing: the Hardtop. Initially produced by Karmann, it featured a steel roof welded onto a Roadster body shell. The Hardtop was aimed primarily at the American market where, with the advent of affordable air-conditioning the "Hardtop Convertible" – meant to simulate the appearance of a convertible with the roof raised – had become popular with drivers who liked the look of a softtop but not the wind, dust, and inconvenience.
When Porsche's Hardtop was launched I was just beginning a three year stint as assistant p.r. manager for Volkswagen Canada, which in those days acted as Porsche distributor. In fact my first drive in a Porsche was at the wheel of a Hardtop, an occasion I remember well because a geezer in a Caddy was so infuriated at being passed by a little foreign car that he called the company to complain! Fortunately my boss thought the incident amusing and I kept my job.
Although it had better all-round vision than the Coupe, the Hardtop was not a sales success, thus accounting for the fact that few Porsche enthusiasts have ever seen one. And yet restored or well-maintained cars do occasionally appear at shows in Europe and North America. Thanks to my Tokyo friend Harley Ferguson for discovering this photo of a Porsche Hardtop in the Cannes Challenge Classic Car Rallye site, where you'll find a detailed history of Porsches from Day One to the end of an era in April of 1965.