The Italian craftsman Aldo Borghi, who, in addition to the Simca, also worked on the bodywork of Gral’s Alfa Romeo Boano, settled in the city of Tigre, near Buenos Aires. Aldo Borghi established a body shop specializing in custom and race cars. At the time, there were few craftsmen specializing in aluminum bodywork. In his workshops, he built the bodies for a large number of cars that are now highly valuable classics, such as the Alfa Romeo 2900 “Ballena,” the Alfa Romeo Spyder 6C 2500 “Paquito” (a very special car with exceptionally harmonious lines that competed in the “La Costanera 1951” sports car race, won by a powerful Allard-Cadillac); the Alfa Romeo 3000CM Carroceria Boano, restored and modified by Borghi after an accident; the Simca-Gordini T11 in which Jean-Pierre Wimille lost his life and the one driven by Fangio in Rosario in 1948 were also bodied by Borghi and converted into two-seaters to compete in Argentine sports car racing series. Among all these projects, Borghi built a very special car based on a Porsche 356 chassis.

In 1963, Aldo Borghi received a Porsche 356 from a client to restore. This Porsche 356 was manufactured in 1953 as a 1954 model year vehicle with a 1,500 ccm Type 546 engine producing 55 PS. Following a fire, the car was completely destroyed. It’s important to note that in those years, Porsche engine mechanics were well known in Argentina for all the projects equipped with these same Porsche engines, such as the Justicialista, the Zunder, and the famous Teram—which, under license from Porsche, made Argentina the only country in the world where Porsches were manufactured outside of Germany. Borghi made sketches and drawings of various sports cars based on a 356 chassis and ultimately decided to create a body similar to the one Rocco Motto had designed a few years earlier in Italy for the Porsche Abarth. Despite very similar lines, the body of the Porsche designed by Borghi differed from the Italian version, likely to distinguish it from the European car.

This first version of the car, which had very attractive and elegant lines, was completed in 1965, just as the Porsche Abarths were already withdrawing from European competition. In Argentina, the car did not compete in races, and its owner kept it until 1972. That year, the car was purchased by Borghi, who wanted to modernize it. Subsequently, he participated in numerous sporting club events and races. He raced in Rosario, Mar del Plata, San Nicolás, and San Pedro. He also competed in several rallies. The car stopped racing in the 1990s, and its owner dismantled it to restore it—a project he never completed. The car was fully restored by its next owner according to the 1963 Borghi Abarth specifications. The car comes with FIA paperwork and a complete history.