#Porsche 550 spyder manual#

The seller added leather straps to the rear clamshell.Ĭustom 16″ wide-five wheels were made from billet aluminum. Equipment includes headlight guards, Talbot-style mirrors, a driver-side headrest fairing, and grille badges. The fiberglass body is painted silver with red stripes down the center. This replica is registered as a 1956 Porsche 550A Spyder and is now offered with an SB100 California BAR sticker, a custom car cover, and a clean Washington title in the seller’s name. The seller has replaced the tires, installed a push-button starter switch, added leather hold-down straps to the rear clamshell, and changed the engine and transaxle oils.

#Porsche 550 spyder manual#

Power comes from a mid-mounted 2,275cc flat-four equipped with Weber carburetors and mated to a four-speed manual transaxle. It received over $67k in maintenance and modifications while owned by a collector in Pennsylvania, and would spend ten years reportedly on display at a Porsche dealership before the seller acquired it on BaT in November 2019. Several companies have sprung up in the last 25 years, some of which build near-exact replicas from the ground up, including spaceframes built to exacting specs from Porsche blueprints.This Porsche 550A Spyder replica was built by Thunder Ranch in 2002 using a fiberglass body over a powder-coated tubular steel frame. The Porsche 550 is among the most frequently reproduced classic automobiles, like the AC Cobra and Lotus Seven. In its 1953 Carrera Panamericana specification 550-1 won a Best of Show award at the 2005 Amelia Island Concours. 550-01 was eventually discovered in the mid 2000s and restored by Cavaglieri Restorations for the Collier Collection. Outfitted with sposors, they were raced by Jose Herrarte and Jaroslav Juhan to victory in the 1500cc class.Īfter their appearance at the Carrera, both Coupes were retired and little seen at pubic events. Despite these upgrades, the Coupes were retained by the factory to contest the Carrera Panamericana race. In late 1953, Porsche showcased a more definitive version of the 550 with a quad-cam engine and simple roadster body. It also became the first mid-engine car win a major endurance race. These were quite successful on faster circuits, but the roadster was later preferred as a more saleable car. One year before Porsche started production of the legendary RS Spyder, they experimented with a Coupe design. The Porsche 550 “Little Bastard” numbered 130 (serial number 550-0055) is best known for being the car in which James Dean was killed on September 30, 1955.

A descendant of the Porsche 550 is generally considered to be the Porsche Boxster S 550 Spyder the Spyder name was effectively resurrected with the RS Spyder Le Mans Prototype. Its successor from 1957 onwards, the Porsche 718, was even more successful, scoring points in Formula One as late as 1963. The later 1956 evolution version of the model, the 550A, which had a lighter and more rigid spaceframe chassis, gave Porsche its first overall win in a major sports car racing event, the 1956 Targa Florio. The 550 / 1500RS or Spyder became known as the “Giant Killer”. In fact, former German Formula One racer Hans Herrmann drove it under closed railroad crossing gates during the 1954 Mille Miglia. The model Porsche 550 Spyder was introduced at the 1953 Paris Auto Show.The 550 was very low to the ground, in order to be efficient for racing. Inspired by the Porsche 356 which was created by Ferry Porsche, and some spyder prototypes built and raced by Walter Glöckler starting in 1951, the factory decided to build a car designed for use in auto racing.

The 550 Spyder was the first sports car specially designed by Porsche with racing in mind, and its successes through the years provided a foundation on which the frame of the Porsche marque spread around the world. The 550 Spyder, which took its name because it was the 550th design project undertaken by the Porsche company, made its international debut in October 1953 at the Paris Motor Show.

The Porsche 550 was a sports car produced by Porsche from 1953-1956.