The snout full - Porsche Fageol Special
08/29/2024
Believe it or not, this car is a Porsche 356, specifically a 3000 Super. Didn't exist? That's right. Not from the factory. But Louis J. Fageol from Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio did. He was the heir to a truck manufacturer and a convinced designer of racing cars with two engines and all-wheel drive.
After Lou Fageol (pronounced "Fadschil") opened a Porsche dealership in 1952, he naturally applied his design philosophy to a brand-new Porsche 1500 Super and implanted a second engine and transmission between the front wheels. He borrowed the driven front axle from a Jeep, which is why the front hubcaps have a recess for the freewheel hubs. The radiator grille came from a Packard.
Although the butter-yellow coupé with whitewall tires, horned bumpers and Continental kit did not look like a typical racing car, Fageol entered his all-wheel-drive Porsche in several SCCA races. His theory was to use the thrust of the additional 70 hp on the straights, but to switch off the rear engine before corners in order to be pulled through the bends by the front wheels. The success in practice was rather moderate.
Although the Fageol Special with its rear fins and Continental kit looks very American, these are not purely fashionable gimmicks. There was simply no more room under the front hood for a fuel tank and spare wheel.
