Vehicle Description
The Precise Definition of Unique: Super 90 Number 108921
Porsche's "Technical Programme V" - the so-called T5 series of Typ
356 models, began to roll off the Zuffenhausen assembly line in
late August 1959. Porsche offered the new cars, designated the 356B
series, with three pushrod engine options, the 1600 Normal, with 60
horsepower, the 1600 Super with 75 horsepower, and the new Super
90, introduced in the spring of 1960, with, appropriately 90
horsepower at 5,500rpm. Torque output for the new engine was
89lb-ft at 4,300-rpm.
For the T5 body, engineers raised the headlight height to improve
illumination and also better comply with regulations in many
countries in which they sold cars. Bumpers followed, coming up 95mm
(3.74 inches) to match other cars. For greater effectiveness, they
increased the size of the front marker lights, and projected them a
bit further out from the fender swell. The adjacent horn grilles
grew longer and flatter, and matching grilles below the bumper
masked oval brake air inlets. They suspended optional fog lights
just in front of these spaces. A new, wider, distinctively shaped
chrome handle replaced the original 356A handle on the front deck
lid. Engineers also elevated the rear bumper by 105mm (4.13 inches)
and cleverly routed the dual exhaust pipes through the redesigned
vertical over-riders. Less visible were the cooling fins cast
perpendicularly on the brake drum castings to catch more air and
improve brake cooling.
A new three-spoke steering wheel and a shift lever shortened by
40mm (1.57 inches) were two of the more obvious interior changes,
although the front seats quickly proved more comfortable and more
supportive than in the 356A models. The rear seats split to fold
independently and they were recessed an additional 60mm (2.36
inches) to increase legroom slightly. Opening front quarter windows
on the coupes enhanced interior air ventilation.
When the German enthusiast magazine Auto Motor und Sport tested the
three pushrod-engine 356B models after the Super 90s first
appeared, they published performance figures that made the S90
particularly appealing for the time. Acceleration from 0 to 62mph
took 13.6 seconds, nearly two seconds faster than the 1600 Normal
and a second quicker than the Super. The magazine recorded top
speeds of 102mph for the Normal, 109 for the Super, and 117 for the
S90.
Production started out very typically for the new model year and
for this new model in particular. The first two cars off the
Zuffenhausen line were 1600 Normals. Then came this chassis,
#108921, the first Super 90 coupe, fitted with engine 800.101 and
gearbox 32010. It went straight across the compound for additional
testing, issued to an engineer named Klink. It journeyed to Berlin
on September 10, 1959, but then returned to the repairs department
for updates and modifications on the 19th at 2,919 kilometers. It
recycled through the shops again on October 14th at 5,697
kilometers, November 10th at 8,861 kilometers, and a final visit on
December 12 at 13,397 kilometers. The Kardex record reveals that
all work was finished and signed off on New Year's Eve 1959. Soon
after that, it and a couple of its siblings boarded ships bound for
the U.S., for its new life as a distributor demonstrator model, but
not until its last modifications in the repairs department replaced
the metric gauges with U.S. instruments.
Ironically, the car and its first private owner may have just
missed each other in Germany. Emil Beck Pardee was a Porsche racer
who also was a partner in a Volkswagen/Porsche dealership, Pardee &
Mozart, in Palo Alto, California. (Gus Mozart had opened
California's first VW dealership, in Los Altos in 1954. He moved to
a bigger facility on El Camino Real in Palo Alto in 1955 where his
partnership with Pardee began.) Pardee had come to Germany for a
Volkswagen dealer trip and when the group finished their activities
at a location near Munich, Pardee's friend, Robert Hansen, who
worked for the Porsche distributor for northern California,
suggested the two of them visit the factory in Zuffenhausen. As
Pardee explained in a letter to a friend dated April 1, 1997, they
went "to discuss the Super 90 allocations." They met with Wolfgang
Raether, Porsche's sales manager at the time.
"While Bob and Wulffgang met, I drove a new Super 90 on the
Autobahn. Upon my return, I asked Wulffgang for one. At that time
all cars were allocated." But Pardee had some clout in the Porsche
world. By this time he had competed successfully in SCCA races in a
1957 Carrera GS-GT coupe, taking a first at Cotati in northern
California that year, and a 1958 1600 Carrera Speedster with a
number of podium finishes through that season. Through 1959, he ran
a 718 RSK that he modified to accommodate wider wheels. Raether
found a car for Pardee.
"I was offered a S-90 factory car that was damaged, but in repair,
which I accepted. And the car was shipped to San Francisco." He
registered the car at 87 Encina Avenue in Palo Alto.
"As I remember the car it was off white (ivory) with a sunroof," he
wrote, "had U.S. instruments, and long gears (Nurburg
Ring-Rations)."
Pardee spent a lot of time running through those N�rburgring gears.
Through 1961, he campaigned his S90 on nine separate occasions in
SCCA regional events in northern California. Countless racing
programs record the entry information: Car #36, Emil Pardee,
Porsche 356B S90, White, 1582cc, class C production, license
category: Senior.
A Porsche Club newsletter from June 1961 reported the results of
one such contest under the heading "Porsche in Competition:"
"Sacramento California race results show PCAers knock 'em off. Walt
Davis and Don Wester finished first and second in the B production
dash, while Emil Pardee, who has shifted from Spyders to a Super
90, won C production."
Pardee eventually sold the coupe to someone he knew in Reno, and
the Super 90 circulated in the used car market for decades. Then,
in October 2010, a call came in to Road Scholars about a "nice
solid car that could be restored if needed but ran well." Cam
Ingram and Kevin Watt were so excited about its credentials as The
First Super 90 - with a sun roof - that they broke Rule Number One:
Never Buy a Car Sight Unseen.
As they explained, soon after it arrived, "storm clouds gathered.
What appeared to be a good driver actually showed signs of damage
in the front trunk - bent inner fenders, kinked access panels and -
to top it of - one headlight was about an inch higher than the
other."
To repeat: Rule Number One: Never Buy A Car Sight Unseen. How is it
that "experts" miss - or misrepresent so great a degree of damage
accompanied by poor repair work, they wondered? Cam's staff spent
the next few weeks carefully stripping the car down to bametal. And
to their pleasant surprise, they discovered a few interesting
details.
Emile Pardee's "ivory" Super 90 was not originally off-white but
instead it was painted Heron Gray. Every nook and cranny of the tub
revealed abundant evidence of Heron Gray. What's more, the doorpost
hinge posts were hooded, and they found many shims used to hang the
door. They recognized these as sure signs of an early production
edition.
Road Scholars had an excellent T5 available to them, so they
scanned it and had a 3D CAD drawing made of the scans, and then
commissioned new body bucks. Pardee's legendary car then got media
blasted. And another "issue" came to light.
