Why I love my car: A 1958 Porsche Speedster

Thomas Zarrella has been fascinated by cars since he was a kid. Now he owns his dream car, a 1958 Porsche Speedster. Saoirse Donegan

By Sanjay Salomon @SanjaySalomon

April 18, 2016

3 minutes to read

As chief executive of energy storage company SustainX, Thomas Zarrella can afford to maintain an impressive car collection that includes a Mercedes-Benz 280SE among other exotic vehicles.

Zarrella collects these vehicles as blue chip investments and carefully tracks each vehicle’s value. But while Zarrella’s cars are investments, there’s one that’s not for sale.

The car is a 1958 Porsche Speedster, sometimes referred to as “the bathtub’’ because of its distinct shape. Zarrella said he has coveted this car since he was in college and will never consider selling it.

“Not in my lifetime,’’ he said. “I will always cherish this car…you get that warm feeling in your belly when you drive this thing and take it out.’’

Zarrella’s interest in cars started when he took auto shop in high school. After graduating, Zarrella worked as a golf caddy at a country club in Connecticut to pay his way through college.

“After getting out of college they were more money than my school loans,’’ he said. “I could never afford one until later years.’’

Zarrella would graduate with a degree in mechanical engineering and started his career in the aerospace industry. He was recruited into the solar industry for a company in Massachusetts before being tapped by New Hampshire-based energy storage technology company SustainX to be the company’s president and CEO in 2010.

By January 2011, Zarrella had started collecting cars. He had acquired a Pontiac GTO and a Mercedes-Benz 280SE convertible in his collection and was now ready to make owning his dream car – the Porsche Speedster – a reality.

He starting searching the internet for Speedsters and eventually found one for sale in California with “real nice bones,’’ as the seller put it. The car needed some work and the owner would only sell it under one condition.

“They said, ‘it’s so nice we won’t sell it as is. We won’t sell it unless someone will restore it,’’’ said Zarrella.

Zarrella’s Speedster features a license plate that reads “BKLST 2’’ because he was able to check the car off his bucket list.

Zarrella points out the Speedster originally had a black exterior and a red interior. However, a previous owner had reversed the car’s colors by painting it red and giving it a black interior.

And so Zarrella bought the Porsche and agreed to have the vehicle restored to its proper glory – all without ever looking at it. Over the course of a year, he would receive photographs detailing how the Porsche’s restoration was going.

By late 2011, Zarrella and his wife travelled to Palm Springs for a holiday party. While the car’s restoration was not fully complete, he was finally able to get his first glimpse of his car in person.

“That was pretty exciting,’’ he said. “It looked just like it rolled off the showroom floor. The paint job was absolutely phenomenal.’’

Today, the Speedster remains a centerpiece of Zarrella’s car collection. Despite waiting nearly a year to get finally get his dream car, Zarrella said the process was an eye-opening experience that was like “getting a PhD in car restoration.’’

Today, he enjoys driving the Porsche around Gloucester, where he lives, but only when the weather is pleasant enough. The license plate reads “BKLST 2’’ a reference to Zarrella being able to check the car off his bucket list.

“It’s a dream come true, my Speedster,’’ he said. “I never intended to have the collection I have, but that was the inspiration I had to keep going.’’