The restoration of the amazing, highly complex Cisitalia Type 360 has taken a huge step forward with Porsche moving the historic racer from its museum to the engineering division at Bietigheim.
There the spaceframe design with mid-mounted 1.5-litre supercharged flat 12 has been disassembled and documented before parts are scanned in preparation for CAD drawings.
The project has been instigated in part by German collector Jürgen Ernst who recently acquired the second – incomplete – Type 360 from the Donington Collection.
Porsche has yet to decide if it will rebuild the original driveline or build a new one. A full set of drawings will also go to Ernst who has commissioned respected British specialist Crosthwaite and Gardiner to rebuild the second car.
Few have heard the fantastic Ferdinand Porsche-designed Grand Prix car run since Clemar Bucci’s problematic 144mph record run in Argentina in 1953, but in a few years two Type 360s could be howling up the hill at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
Mick Walsh is Classic & Sports Car’s International Editor