Racing history
The first three hand-built prototypes came in a coupé with a removable hardtop. The first (550-03) raced as a roadster at the Nurburgring Eifel Race in May 1953 winning its first race. Later that year the 550 took class wins in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Carrera Panamericana; the Carrera Panamericana win was commemorated with the Carrera branding for later Porsches with performance options. From 1953 to 1957, the Porsche works team evolved and raced the 550 with outstanding success and was recognized wherever it appeared. The silver Werks cars were painted with spears of different colors on the rear fenders to aid recognition from the pits. Hans Herrmann’s particularly famous ‘red-tail’ car No 41 went from victory to victory. For such a limited number of 90 prototype and customer builds, the 550 Spyder was always in a winning position, usually finishing in the top three results in its class. During its tenure with the works team it was challenged only twice among the smaller cars at the 1954 24 Hours of Le Mans, with a 1.5-liter OSCA MT4 finishing ahead but disqualified in the 1954 race and a 1.1 liter Lotus Eleven trailing the 1.5 liter winning 550 by one lap in the 1957 race. The 1956 version, the 550A with a lighter and more rigid spaceframe chassis, gave Porsche its first overall win in a major sports car racing event, the 1956 Targa Florio, not a part of the World Championship that year, though. During this era Porsche was the first European car manufacturer to get race sponsorship for North American events, which was through Fletcher Aviation, who Porsche was working with to design a light aircraft engine, and later Telefunken and Castrol.
The 550 was also raced by privateers, who kept the type in competition after the works team had moved on to the 718 in 1957. The 550 was both a road and track car and it was common for privateers to drive it to the race track, race it, then drive it home. One 550 was purchased by Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito for Milivoje Božić, with which he finished third in the 1000-km Supercortemaggiore Grand Prix at Monza Circuit with only one set of tyres in 1958 before winning his class in the 1960 European Hill Climb Championship; the car was sold to Prada in 1961.[14]
Each Spyder was assigned a number for the race and had gumballs positioned on doors, front and rear, to be seen from any angle. On some 550s owned by privateers, a crude hand written number scrawled in house paint usually served the purpose. Cars with high numbers assigned such as 351, raced in the 1000 mile Mille Miglia, where the number represented the start time of 3.51am. On most occasions, numbers on each Spyder would change for each race entered, which today helps identify each 550 by chassis number and driver in period black and white photos.
Its successor from 1957 onwards, the Porsche 718, commonly known as the RSK was even more successful. The Spyder variations continued through the early 1960s, the RS 60 and RS 61.
The Porsche Boxster S 550 Spyder is a modern mid-engined sports car that pays tribute to the 550; the Spyder name was effectively resurrected with the RS Spyder Le Mans Prototype.
James Dean's 550
One of the first 90 Porsche 550s built was James Dean's, numbered 130 (VIN 550-0055), which was involved in a collision at the CA Rte. 46/41 Cholame Junction on September 30, 1955, resulting in Dean's death.[15]
As Dean was finishing up Giant's filming in September 1955, he suddenly traded in his 356 Porsche Super Speedster at Competition Motors, for a new 1955 Porsche 550 Spyder on September 21, and immediately entered the upcoming Salinas Road Race event scheduled for October 1 and 2.[16]
A contemporary of Dean, the rising actor Tom Pittman also died prematurely when he crashed his Spyder over a cliff in 1958.[17]
Replicas
The 550 is among the most frequently reproduced classic automobiles.[18]
