1960 Porsche 356 Zagato Coupe. Personally, I say all Porsches are beautiful. This one is exceptional for the time.

Because of Zagato's reputation, the coachbuilder was contacted in 1957 by a professional racing driver who asked Zagato to optimize the aerodynamic efficiency of a Porsche 356 Carrera Speedster. The car for Claude Storez, a Frenchman who was driving for Porsche at the time, left the Zagato workshop in Milan at the end of 1958. It was painted white, had a one-piece, curved windshield and red longitudinal slats on the rear fenders. After the lightweight bodywork was successful, Zagato sent Storez's Speedster back to Stuttgart, where Porsche fine-tuned the mechanics and then delivered the car.

During his first appearance with the car, Storez was photographed on the track in his Porsche Zagato with the number 139 on the passenger door at the Reims stage of the Tour de France Automobile in September 1958. It is believed that Storez finished 2nd in this race behind Olivier Gendebien in his Ferrari 250 GT TdF. In doing so, Storez had proven that Zagato-bodied cars were still extremely competitive. Unfortunately, when the driver took part in a French rally with his Porsche Zagato in February 1959, tragedy struck: Storez had an accident and died. His Porsche Zagato disappeared after the wreckage was cleared from the track and was never to appear again.

A few years ago, American collector Herb Wetanson approached Zagato and asked if they could recreate Claude Storez's Porsche-Zagato 356 Speedster. Wetanson was well acquainted with the coachbuilder's craft, as Zagato had previously built a "Sanction II" Lancia Aprilia Sport for his wife Olga. Zagato agreed, and the car was dedicated to the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Porsche company.

Alluding to the sad incident with the original vehicle and the fact that it was never found again after the accident, Zagato coined the term "Sanction Lost" for this new creation. It is a variation of the "Sanction II" designation, often used for sophisticated, carefully researched new builds of older vehicles completed by their original manufacturers.

Andrea Zagato, grandson of founder Ugo Zagato, confirmed that nine copies of the Speedster were to be built, although demand was higher. After a drawing of a 1959 Porsche-Zagato coupe was discovered, Zagato announced that it would produce nine of these vehicles alongside the Speedster. The modern manufacturing process is very advanced and impressive: Zagato scanned the original photos and drawings of Storez's car and, through a photometric process, created a digital format from which a new body could be built.

All 18 Porsches with Zagato bodies were built on the basis of real Porsche 356s. One Speedster and two coupés were built with Carrera engines. The car shown here is the only Porsche 356 Carrera Zagato Speedster “Sanction Lost”. It was built from a 1960 Porsche 356 B, which, according to the enclosed Kardex copy, left the Stuttgart factory on October 21, 1960. After the start of the Porsche Zagato Sanction Lost program, this car was sent to Zagato to replace it, where the original Porsche body was removed and replaced with its own Speedster body. The Carrera engine was supplied by the well-known top specialist for the Porsche 356 Peter Iversen in Denmark. Inside, the driver and passenger seats are covered in red leather and the floor is lined with a rubber mat. Like Storez's car, the Speedster and one of the coupes were painted in "Bianco Gardenia", with red accents on the Zagato-typical tail fins, reflecting the original Storez Speedster color scheme.
This unique Porsche 356 Carrera Zagato Speedster “Sanction Lost” was sold for 455,000 British pounds at auction on November 16, 2021 in London, along with a spare wheel, a copy of the blueprint and a digital file with magazine articles, photos and Zagato brochures.