A race car that was based from the 356 Carrera 2 (a commercial car), this special-356 model was able to show its prowess on the professional road. This isn’t surprising; after-all, the 356 Carrera 2 was already a class of its own. The 356 Carrera 2 was released in America to-address the lack of high-powered Porsche cars in the country (the company’s previous Carrera release in the US was a-flop). Their answer to this problem was to emulate some of the finer points of the 356 Carrera while-giving it a little oomph to make it stand out. This was done by adding to the Carrera 2 the Type 587-engine, an engine so powerful it was later on used on cars like the Porsche 904. Seeing the good-points of the 356 Carrera 2, Porsche decided to use this car (which became one of the more popular-Porsche models in America during that time) as a model for a powerful Gran Turismo race-car.

The Porsche 356B 2000 GS Carrera took advantage of some of the major points of the-356 Carrera 2 - but the company improved it tenfold. The engine, of course, is the main selling point of the-Carrera 2, so they made the Porsche 356B 2000 GS Carrera’s engine all the more powerful.-Instead of having normal pushrods, the Porsche 356B 2000 GS Carrera used double overhead camshafts.-The first Porsche Carreras had 1.5 liter engines; this one had a two liter engine with more torque.-At around 2200 pounds, the Porsche 356B 2000 GS Carrera isn’t the lightest, but it can manage-to run at more than 120 miles per hour.    

As a 1963 production, the Porsche 356B 2000 GS Carrera managed to make an impressive-mark in the Gran Turismo category of the Targa Florio during that year. The car was driven by-Herbert Linge and Edgar Barth, and they managed to propel the Porsche team into 3^rd place-overall in the esteemed racing competition. 

The Porsche 356B 2000 GS Carrera, however, didn’t really make a big enough-mark to be included in the list of great Porsche race cars. Still, Porsche acknowledges its-achievements by putting it in display in the Porsche Museum in Germany. As for the 356 line, Porsche-decided to stop the production of the pioneering model a few years after the Porsche 356B 2000 GS-Carrera was released. The commercial model Porsche 356C was released a year after, with the Porsche-911 overshadowing the achievements of the 356 by becoming a major success. But just the same, the-Porsche 356B 2000 GS Carrera remains to be a major entry in the history of Porsche.