The Across the Universe used the turmoil of the late '60's - early 70's as the backdrop while the storyline was written around various Beatles songs. Some of the characters were homages to rock n roll artists who lived at the time, namely Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin. In fact, what got me excited to write this post was a small shot of a 356C Porsche Cabriolet at the end of the movie that was decorated to look like the one owned by Janis Joplin. Funny thing is in one of her hits, Janis asked the Lord to buy her a Mercedes Benz because all her friends drove Porsches. In the meantime, she owned a Porsche in real life.
Janis Joplin's 1965 Porsche 356C Cabriolet is now a rock n roll artifact and has been on display at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum. From the painting there is no doubt that the Porsche is owned by someone who embraced the psychedelic times.
Purchased from Beverly Hills in 1968, it went through quite a bit of history before it's current resting place. It was stolen and retrieved while used by Janis Joplin. It was then used as a loaner car by Janis Joplin's manager after her death. It was returned to the Joplins for personal use. And eventually restored as close to original to its current state.
Here is a video clip of Janis Joplin's Porsche 356C Cabriolet. It's on display on what seems to be an outdoor car show. Enjoy!
Meanwhile, on its own, the Porsche 356C Cabriolet comes with its own importance in automobile history. It was the first Porsche production car. It was the predecessor to the ever popular Porsche 911. The 911 replaced the 356 completely in 1965, which was the last year of production for the Porsche 356C Cabriolet. Still popular at the time, there were 16,678 units produced that year. Janis Joplin bought one of the last Porsche 356Cs.
Pictures of Porsche 356C Cabriolet
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