Throughout Porsche’s history, the 911 will remain its most definitive model.
However, Porsche had other great cars and some of them, for one reason or another, remained in obscurity. This is exactly the case with the 1957 Porsche 696 Beutler, which wasn’t even built in Germany, in the first place.
The car, also referred to as Volkswagen-Porsche 696 Beutler, was actually built in Thun, Switzerland, by Ernst and Fritz Beutler, who were renowned coachbuilders. The Beutler brothers had established contacts at Porsche, since 1948 and were actually responsible for building the bodies of six of the very first Porsche 356 cars, including the oldest production Porsche – car number 003.
However, the brothers decided to make their own car that featured “an elegant coupe with four seats and superior engineering that drives like a sports car”.
After deciding they want to make their own car, the Beutler brothers acquired the chassis from a Volkswagen Bug and began crafting a suitable 2+2 coupe body, by hand. The body was made entirely out of aluminum. Back then, aluminum was difficult to work with, but the brothers had gathered experience through specially commissioned jobs, by Lancia, Packard, Bristol, and others.
It had a Porsche engine. Normally, that would go without saying, but history has documented a few Porsche models that were not powered by a Porsche engine. While most Beutler coupes were powered by a modified version of the VW Bug engine, this one has a proper Porsche engine. In particular, it has the 1.6-liter flat-four engine from the 1955 Porsche 356 A.
The engine was good for 75 horsepower (53 kilowatts) and 86 pound-feet (117 Nm). This was enough for the Porsche 696 to reach speeds of up to 103 mph (165 km/h), which was a respectable figure for the 1950s.
While the overall aesthetics of the 696 may be a bit restrained for a coach-built body, the car was surprisingly practical and luxurious for its day.
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