Cut the windshield. Hide the soft top. Delete the rear seats.
The 356 Speedster — the original
The first Porsche Speedster was the 356 Speedster, introduced in 1954. Max Hoffman — Porsche's North American importer in the 1950s — pushed for a lower-priced open-top variant of the 356 to compete with the British roadsters that were dominating the American sports car market. Porsche responded with a stripped-down cabriolet: a low-cut windshield, lightweight bucket seats, side curtains instead of roll-up windows, no rear seats, and a removable soft top that stowed behind the cockpit under a removable tonneau.
The 356 Speedster sold for approximately $2,995 in 1955 — at the time, about $400 less than a comparable 356 coupe. It became a cult car almost immediately. Approximately 4,800 were built between 1954 and 1958, when production shifted to the more comfortable Convertible D variant.
The defining elements
Every Speedster — across every generation — has shared three visual elements that distinguish it from a standard cabriolet:
- The chopped windshield: lower than the standard cabriolet by approximately 50 to 80 millimeters depending on generation. The shortened windshield reduces frontal area and creates the distinctive "wedge" silhouette.
- The hump cover: a body-color cover behind the seats that stows the folded soft top and gives the rear deck its distinctive twin-hump profile. The hump cover is permanent on most Speedsters — it does not detach for normal use.
- No rear seats: the Speedster is a strict two-seater. The space behind the seats is occupied by the soft top stowage and a small storage area.
911 Speedster (1989)
The first 911 Speedster was a 1989 G-body variant produced as a single model year. It used the 3.2 Carrera engine, the G50 five-speed, and the cabriolet base. The chopped windshield was approximately 80 millimeters lower than the cabriolet's. The hump cover was hand-laid fiberglass.
Approximately 2,103 examples were built, almost all sold in the United States. The 1989 911 Speedster was offered in both the standard narrow body and the M491 Turbo-body widebody option. The widebody examples are rarer and more sought after.
964 Speedster (1993-1994)
The 964 Speedster used the Carrera 2 chassis with the 3.6 liter flat-six. Production ran from 1993 into early 1994. Approximately 936 examples were built worldwide. About half were Turbo-body widebodies; the rest used the narrow Carrera body.
The 964 Speedster is the rarest of the air-cooled Speedsters. The combination of low production numbers, the modern 3.6 engine, and the smooth-bumper styling has made it one of the most collected 964 variants. Clean examples now bring $250,000 to $400,000.
997 Speedster (2010)
After a sixteen-year gap, Porsche brought the Speedster back as the 997 Speedster — a limited edition of 356 cars, numbered to commemorate the original 356 Speedster. The 997 Speedster used the Carrera S engine in a widebody chassis, with the distinctive twin-hump cover behind the seats and a chopped windshield.
All 356 examples were pre-allocated to Porsche Classic customers before announcement. None were available through normal dealer channels. The 997 Speedster is now one of the rarer modern Porsche variants — production was small and the market was tightly controlled at delivery.
991 Speedster (2019)
The 991 Speedster was produced in 1,948 examples — numbered to commemorate 1948, the year of the first Porsche road car. It used the 4.0 liter naturally-aspirated flat-six from the 991 GT3, paired with the six-speed manual gearbox. Power: 502 horsepower.
The 991 Speedster was the first Speedster with a manual gearbox and a high-revving GT-spec engine — a deliberate enthusiast configuration. Carbon-fiber hump cover. Carbon-fiber front fenders. Centerlock wheels. It sold for approximately $275,000 new and is now $400,000-plus on the secondary market.
Why the Speedster persists
Each Speedster generation has been a deliberate limited-run statement rather than a regular production model. The configuration — chopped windshield, no rear seats, hump cover — is impractical for daily use. The car exists because Porsche enthusiasts respond to the visual language. Every Speedster sells out before announcement. The market has not changed in seventy years.