Porsche 356 Coupé
Reference — shown, never scored
Why 5.5: Sixty horsepower, an air-cooled flat-four, unassisted steering and drum brakes — the origin point for everything the brand still claims about feel over firepower. It asks plenty of a driver despite the modest numbers: swing-axle rear geometry and weak drum brakes reward smoothness and punish anyone leaning on the outright grip a modern chassis would provide.
Market value
Median asking price, good condition · $4k (1960) → $95k (2026), trending up · illustrative data
The long version
Ferry Porsche built the first examples by hand in a converted sawmill in Gmünd, Austria, before production moved to Zuffenhausen and the model settled into the Pre-A, A, B and C generations that carried it through 1965. Power grew gradually across that run, but the basic formula never changed: light weight standing in for horsepower, a philosophy the 911 inherited wholesale. Decades of steady appreciation have pulled clean coupes out of daily use and into garages, though the car's club culture — rallies, tours, active owners' registries — still gets a meaningful share of the surviving fleet onto real roads.