https://bringatrailer.com/list...e-356sc-cabriolet-8/
Has this been posted. Looks like a Beck Suby Envemo. Says 2013. But I don’t think Envemo has been made for years.
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Beck made a handful of those in the teens at a high price. They were beautifully made, but pricey, largely because the cost of recreating the top mechanism was crazy.
Neat car , we’re all the Beck cabriolet Subie powered .
I don't think so. @chines1?
Carrie put a bunch of responses on the BAT auction.
Got a feeling creating my convertible D soft top mechanism will be pricy. I guess if it’s too pricy maybe I can just go with my original thought of hard top and soft top delete. I know when IM was making cars they made at least as many Conv Ds as they did speedsters. Does anyone think there would be popular interest in a Conv D option? Taller windshield and role up windows. I’ve been in a speedster with its top up. And I owned an IM Conv D. There’s no comparison in comfort, visibility and claustrophobia.
AH - so Carey says total of 6 were built. From photos - it very much matches or even surpasses IM's latest build quality. Now at $32k but 4 days to go. Will it hit $80k? A real beauty.
Yep, I made these on our 3" round tube speedster chassis, body from the ENVEMO molds. Initial run was 4 and I wound up making 2 more later on. I honestly don't recall how many were Suby but I think just 2 were. We did one electric and the rest aircooled. I won't do them again.
Carey can you elaborate why you would not build the Cabriolet again? Isn’t it identical to the super coupe from the windows down. Is the top prohibitively expensive or difficult to build? Most folks do want a convertible as their “fun” car. I don’t think it’s as pretty as a speedster but obviously your 3 year wait for the SC certainly confirms that a bunch of folks like the look. Just curious but I just don’t understand why more people don’t want role up windows and head room.
@550 Phil they were made to fit a VW Brazilia pan, which you just can't get anymore, and I have no interest in making a belly pan car anyway so there'd be no point in modifying for that. I made it fit the Speedster old style tube chassis, and while it was OK it really needed a little lower sitting floor and some other chassis changes. Don't get me wrong, I made the old one work and work well, but it could have been better, so it would really need a purpose built chassis specific to it. It is shorter and slightly more narrow than the SC, so that isn't an option. I could make the front suspension work but would have a complete redesign from behind the rear seats back, and with now almost 4 years worth of backlog for street cars and over 5 years backlog on racecars I don't need any more development projects (I already have another project in the works on top of everything else).
We get very few requests for roll up windows in the speedster or a Roadster/D. Maybe 1 person a year asks and I always just say no... OK, almost always ;-)
The coupe/GTS and the old cabs were also really a labor of love. I can make some money on the GTS because they are a 125-150K car. I need to streamline the coupe to make it profitable, and I think i can get there without any sacrifice to quality, but it has proven to be a lot more work/time than anyone ever anticipated. The cab was the same way. I lost money on every one I built.
Thank you for the explanation Carey. My bad. I was thinking that the SC and Cabriolet had identical proportions. Yes. The people on the waiting list definitely do not want you to start any new projects. But for the few persistent people like me who want role up windows I really do appreciate your effort. But usually if you build it they will come. And if you can figure out an economical solution to the Conv D top…they will come.
Hmm. If you can really figure out role up windows or power up windows in a speedster I’d definitely consider that. A 356A is definitely better looking in the speedster than it is in a type D. And the top should be easier. Just a thought. Ok. Now go back and build cars 😉
@550 Phil, remember that the Super Coupe has a 2" longer wheelbase and a 2" wider track than the original car. I think the Envemos matched the original cars' dimensions more closely. Also, the Cabriolet top is fancier even then one for a Roadster. It's larger and (the real ones at least) padded and lined.
Yes. I understand this now. Yes it sounds like Carey has his hands full with the speedster, Spyder, 904 and the SC and their derivations. I missed it that the SC had been widened and lengthened. Good thing for Joel it was.
You could always do a tonneau cover and a hardtop 
.... but I would just go for a soft top like your old IM. Sure it won't be cheap but it will only hurt once.
Raphael in MX makes a folding speedster top. DrClock has been conversing with him. My guess is his top is the low bow one but he may make a taller one. Fitting to windup windows may be issue. MangoSmoothie bought one but didn't like the quality so he built his own. It is on his web site:
A convertible D has so much more area of vision which is Phil's point in getting a D
So...
The entire idea of a Speedster was not Ferry's ideal to start with. Porsche was already making Cabriolets, and another drop-top was not in the original plans. They were already making race-cars (550s) when Max Hoffmann asked for a stripped down sportscar, presumably to better compete with the British on price. Max got his car and Porsche got a toehold in the USA. A happy happenstance of the result was a car that came to be a winning fixture in the less rarified air of sportscar racing in North America.
It always required a lot of sacrifice to live with, which is why, with the celebrity set, bad-boy hardcases like James Dean and Steve McQueen gravitated toward them. It wasn't really Cary Grant's jam.
The Speedster, D, and Roadster were different from the Cabriolets, not just in the windshield, but behind the seats. A 356 Cabriolet looks like a coupe with the top chopped off, very much like the 911 Cabriolet. The "removable windshield" cars have a flatter area behind the top, for a sleeker profile. The bodies are quite different from the front fenders back.
Max Hoffmann wanted a stripped down quasi-racer, but what Porsche believed buyers really wanted was the appearance of one, so the '59 Convertible D and the B-bodied roadsters worked to split the difference. "Removable" windshields that were never actually removed, windup windows (like civilized people in cold climates have), and nicer seats were the compromise.
We're not that much different than people 65 years ago, and I've certainly been guilty of larding up the lightweight. I'm trying to resist the urge. There are some features I want to have, and some that just add complexity. I'm never sure where that line is, I only know when I go over it (and I have).
For me (at least) a cabriolet is a couple of bridges too far.
It's said that for every 100# reduction in weight - it's like gaining 6 hp.
Or in my case, gaining 100# is like losing 6 hp...
A good steak diet will help
Carey wrote, "We get very few requests for roll up windows in the speedster or a Roadster/D. Maybe 1 person a year asks and I always just say no... OK, almost always ;-)"
That surprises me. I would have thought more buyers would want roll up/electric windows. I couldn't go back to side curtains (mind you, I have had British sports cars...) now that I am used to the convenience of glass roll up windows.