Garage Candy
Photo by Gary Land
“Collecting is a bit of a disease…it is never enough,” says Tom Larsen, who’s acquired 16 classic cars over the past 13 years, including an impeccable Gullwing and a rare 1962 Ferrari 250 GTL Lusso. “The real collecting started after I retired, but I never thought it would amount to this.”
Larsen considers this 1957 Porsche 356 Speedster, however, essential to his stable. “It is the Porsche to own from a collecting standpoint, and it is a simple car to drive,” he says. “The mechanicals are actually similar to that of a Volkswagen Beetle, just faster. Plus, it’s a beautiful car to look at.”
After searching for more than a year, Larsen found this stellar model at a 2004 Bonham’s auction at the Larz Anderson Museum. While deciding how much he’d be willing to bid for it, Larsen overheard a phone conversation between a car expert and a potential buyer. “He was going through the car and reporting everything that he saw. I liked what I heard,” he says.
Though Larsen usually drives his Speedster close to home, he fondly recalls one memorable rally to Cohasset with the New England Porsche club. “There is no place I’d rather be than driving along Jerusalem Road on a sunny Sunday in July with 20 other 356s,” he says.
