Once in a while a barn find will surface that is not only an amazing find, but has highly documented and interesting history. While this 1958 Porsche 356A Cabriolet was more or less forgotten about after being parked in this North Carolinian barn, its history wasn’t lost. It was just recently pulled from this barn, cleaned up, and is now for sale here on eBay.

The original owner ordered this car while stationed in Munich, Germany as an Air Force Officer. They even went to the factory to see it while it was being built. Shortly after it was finished, they had it sent home. On the trip to Texas, they stopped in Cherokee, North Carolina and had this photo of the car taken with a Cherokee Chieftain, which they sent to the Porsche publication Christophorus Magazine and it ended up in the factory calendar. We can’t help but wonder if people will run across the cars from our calendar in 50 years and get all excited…

After being in Texas until ’62, it changed hands twice and made its way to Florida and eventually to the barn in North Carolina. Time and humidity has taken its toll on this car, both inside and out. There is considerable rust in the floors, battery box, and much of the underside. Someone started a restoration, but didn’t get much further than taking things apart. Thankfully, the current owner has some extra interior parts that come with the car.

After a good cleaning, the exterior cleaned up well and the paint even shines. This car came with the rare hardtop option, which is still with the car and in excellent condition. While there is lots of rust on the underside, the body is surprisingly solid. The seller measured the thickness of the paint with a paint meter and based on their readings, it appears the body is bondo free.

The original engine is still in the car, but isn’t running. The seller was able to get it to rotate, but there is a stuck valve that is preventing it from turning over completely. The engine will likely need a complete rebuild, which could get expensive. It would be nice if this car were powered by one of the more powerful versions of the 1.6 liter boxer four, but this 70 hp unit should still be fun.

Bidding for this 356A has gone crazy, with the current bid at $48,000. This seems rather high for a car in this condition, but perhaps the hardtop adds considerable value to the car. What do you think? Does the hardtop add this kind of value to the car or is it simply overpriced? Either way, what would you like to see happen to it? Should it be left as original as possible, fully restored, or turned into an Outlaw 356? Thanks goes out to Dangelin for sending this our way.