Carrosserie Beutler (pronounced “boyt-ler”) was a Swiss coachbuilder located in Thun, near the lake of the same name. The company was founded by brothers Ernst and Fritz after World War 2 and designed custom bodies for many different manufacturers — including Bugatti, Citroen, and Volkswagen — during their 4 decades in business. One of their earliest customers was a new sports car company called Porsche.

Beutler was introduced to Porsche in 1948 when the firm was still located in Austria. The result of that meeting was an order for a convertible variant of the company’s early 356 coupes — a variant of the car which sold well. Sadly, Porsche left Beutler behind when it moved to Stuttgart and Reutter won the company’s business for building the 356.

Porsche has always been interested in developing a 4-seater car, with prototypes having been explored since the early 1950s. Having great experience with sedan construction, Beutler was contacted by Porsche to produce a 2+2 Porsche design based on the 356. A bare chassis was delivered to the Beutler factory, which the coachbuilder lengthened and covered with a hand-formed aluminum body. Seven cars in total were built, with each build an evolution of the design based on Porsche feedback or a private customer order.

Today’s Good Find Friday car is Porsche chassis number 13030, which corresponds to the 3rd of 7 original Beutler 2+2 cars built from 1958 to 1961 based on my sources. The car is being sold by Gooding & Company as part of a collection gathered by Jim Watson, who at one time owned its sister car: chassis #13031. Jim sadly passed away in 2021.

The Beutler-assigned number for this car is 1193-30 and it was the second coupe produced after the first prototype — as #1182, the preceding car, was a cabriolet built for the Duke of Wurttemberg. The auction listing is not yet complete, so we’ll have to wait to learn a little more about this particular car and its history.

The exterior styling certainly reflects its Porsche heritage, with Beutler’s hand-hammered aluminum coachwork defining a shape that is much more “grand touring coupe” than sleek fastback sports car. The fender wells are delicately flared and the taller greenhouse allows tremendous visibility with improved headroom for rear seat passengers. While the standard Porsche 356 (technically) has rear seats, they’re frankly unsuitable for anyone other than children.

After the construction of the first prototype, Porsche requested that Beutler follow the Porsche design ethos more closely and utilize more off-the-shelf Porsche parts. This car is the first of the seven cars built to showcase this evolution. The front hood spear, bumperettes, rear lights, side mirror, engine decklid grills, badges and more are OEM Porsche supplied.

The rear of the car is 100% Beutler, who seemed to fancy the tail fin rear fender treatment popular at the time. The first prototype incorporated non-Porsche lights vertically into the ends of the fins which, while derivative, was a more refined aesthetic choice when compared to this iteration which placed stock “teardrop” lights onto the bodywork below. The dual air vents and lack of a front grill clearly expose the car as a rear-engined and air-cooled vehicle.

Moving to the interior, there’s a lot of 356 visible here too. The dashboard, steering wheel and gear lever are unchanged from a standard Porsche 356. A pair of nicely restored front seats appear to have later 356C-style seat recliners installed. The door and interior rear side panels feature rather luxurious armrests, unlike a standard 356. A bench-style rear seat (that appears to be very similar to the front bench seat that could be special ordered in a 356) replaces the upholstered buckets that pass for seats on a standard coupe.

The Porsche-provided chassis was split along a factory seam line and a 200mm insert was welded in place to increase the overall length. The battery and jack were moved to the now very spacious engine compartment and an alloy fuel tank was constructed for the front compartment. Luggage capacity looks greatly improved in the Beutler.

The first engines used in the Beutler-Porsche 2+2 coupes were 616/1 “Normal” engines, and the stamped number on the engine case of this car matches a 616/1 that would have occupied a 1960 model year chassis. Later cars were built with 1600 Super engines putting out 75 horsepower, but all were delivered with Porsche’s 4-speed manual transmission with synchromesh on the forward gears.

The suspension is all Porsche 356, with a torsion bar front suspension and swing-axle rear. Wheels and tires are stock specification for a 1960 Porsche 356 Super.

I can’t wait to learn more about this special car as the history is collected, documented and shared by Gooding & Company prior to the auction. It is said that only 3 of the original Beutler-Porsche 2+2 cars are still extant. It’s important to note that Beutler went on to build their own similar bodies on Volkswagen pans after the relationship with Porsche ended, and those are not included in this count.

The last time I saw a genuine Porsche 356 by Beutler in person was over 20 years ago during the Porsche 356 Registry Holiday in Charleston, SC. At the time it was owned by Jim Watson and looking back, won a concours award at that year’s event. The very same car just happens to have been sold by Gooding & Company in 2020. At that time, the car was estimated at $400,000-$600,000 and hammered for $395,000 or just under the low estimate at Gooding’s Amelia Island auction.

While there is a tremendous amount of positivity heading into 2025, I fear that a rare, special, coachbuilt 1960’s Porsche like this one may face some headwinds in a market that is shifting more toward modern classics with each passing year. That said, the target audience for a car like this is certainly still kicking, and all it takes is more than one interested bidder to send prices into the stratosphere. The strong results for the special cars at the Rudi Klein sale just a few months ago demonstrate that fact rather soundly.

If anyone knows more about this car or other Beutler-built beauties, share your knowledge in the comments below!

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