Rhapsody in Aetna Blue

In 1961, a right-hand-drive Porsche 356 B T5 in Aetna Blue was delivered new to its first Australian owner through Hamilton's — Porsche's original importer in this country. Sixty-odd years later, that same car swept three awards at Motorclassica 2022: Best Porsche, Restoration of the Year, and New Age Classics (British & European 1961-1970). Only the second car in the event's history to take home all three. We saw the coverage and had to dig into the story.

Owners Theo and Niki Dimopoulos brought the 356 B to Porsche Centre Melbourne in late 2019 with a clear brief: restore everything, replace nothing. The mechanical work fell to Peter Bowen, a Porsche Classic Specialist Technician with 38 years of experience in motorsport and historic Porsches. The body, paint, and upholstery were handled by additional specialists at the centre. The whole process took the best part of two years.

What sets this restoration apart is the obsessive commitment to originality. The body, engine, gearbox, window frames, window regulators, radio, instruments, and steering wheel are all original to the car — every one of them meticulously restored rather than replaced. Bowen's team sourced date-correct parts throughout, matching original finishes and respecting six decades of history rather than erasing them.

The best detail is the headlight lenses. Original right-hand-drive 356 lenses are essentially unobtainable. Theo tracked down a pair from a woman in Malta — still factory-sealed in their original Genuine Porsche packaging from the 1960s. Unused for over sixty years, then fitted to a car that was built the same decade. That's the level of dedication at play here.

When it was all finished, Peter Bowen's first reaction wasn't about how it looked. 'The biggest joy for me,' he said, 'was how well it drove when it was finished.' That's the mark of a proper restoration. Not a trailer queen, not a roped-off museum piece — a car that drives the way Porsche intended it to in 1961. The Motorclassica judges clearly agreed.