Not that it needs one from Pilote. It's been a legendary car for over 55 years. But I was lucky enough to get a ride in one, and it made an indelible impression on me.
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| The first 550's were coupes with 1.1 liter production-based pushrod engines, intended to win their class at Le Mans. Although the earliest cars were considerably revised, the Typ 550 number was retained. The rear torsion bars were moved from behind the wheels to ahead of them and the headlights were faired into a tighter, more streamlined nose. |
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| Then came the factory Spyders with the complicated and powerful Typ 547 1.5 liter 4-cam engine. It made the 550 Spyder into a consistent class winner and sometime "giant killer" as the car was further refined throughout the 1950's. |
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| Porsche 550-046 is claimed to be the most original Spyder in existence and sold for $3.625 million at the Amelia Island Concours in March of 2012. Porsche had put the Spyder into "production:" a class-winning, turn-key, race car only one step behind the factory machines in development. The 550-A update went into series production also. Porsche pretty-much owned the 1.5 liter sports racing class from the mid-1950's into the early 1960's. |
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| Rear view of 550-046, just because Pilote loves it so much. Early Spyders had "banjo" steering wheels to reduce kick-back into the driver's hands. Most of them had what he is pleased to call "proper" aluminum 3-spoke wheels with wood rims. |
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| You could order a 550 in road-going specification, complete with windshield, top, hubcaps, and "Spyder" trim script on the front fender (no heater, defroster, or radio...). This one doesn't have the full-width windshield (borrowed from the 356 Speedster). You also got the 4-cam engine detuned for street use, putting out 110 h.p. The car weighs about 1400 lbs. full of fuel. Note the negative camber on the rear wheels: 550's had swing-axle rear suspension; the camber dialed out some oversteer. |
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| 550-141 (A-series), in which Pilote got a few laps around Nelsons Ledges Road Course in 1963. The Dunlop R-7 racing tires were about the same width as a modern hot hatch's. The driver told me "hang onto a frame tube." I thought, "Yeah, right--I've driven street sports cars hard." In the middle of the first, fast, right-hander, I grabbed a frame tube with both hands and held on tight for the rest of the ride. The lateral grip was amazing. After it left the then-owner's hands, this car went through some hard times. It was purchased as a basket-case with an incomplete body in San Francisco in 1984. A 25-year restoration was completed last year, including a rebuilt Typ 547 engine. Good on you, Mr. Dedicated Current Owner. |
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| 1958 brought enough changes that the car became a Typ 718 "RSK" Spyder. The most significant change was fully-articulated, fully-independent rear suspension. And the car continued to pile up class victories and to beat many a "big dog" for high top-10 finishes on both sides of the Atlantic. |
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| Le Mans 1960: if the FIA hands you lemons, make lemonade. Porsche faired the newly-mandated "real windshield" into Lotus-like side plexiglass and an elevated tail with an abrupt "chop" per Kamm aerodynamic theory: the streamlined Spyder. |
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| The RSK evolved into the RS-60 (#42, the 1960 Sebring winner) and RS-61 (almost identical) for the 1960 and 1961 seasons. When it was stretched to take the Typ 771 8-cylinder Grand Prix engine, detuned for sports car racing, the car became the Typ 788 (foreground). This was the last Porsche with a connection to the 550. Ten years: not a bad run for a basic design for a racing sports car. Porsche's next racing sports car was the Typ 904, for the GT class. After that, the run of Ferdinand Piech designs began: the 906, 907, 908, and 917. The silver GT car in the background of this picture is a 356 Abarth Carrera (an aluminum body on the 356 floor pan with a Typ 547 engine for GT racing). Number 266 is the 1969 Targa Florio-winning 908/2. |
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