![]() It was a US delivered spyder and it was entered on 13 March into the 12 hour Sebring race with new owner Norman Christianson and Donald McKnought, but did not finish due to failed brakes.Ĭhassis #550-0023 was completed on 22nd February 1955 with engine #90008 and shipped to the US to Max Hoffman’s dealership. Porsche 550 Spyder Chassis #550-0022Ĭhassis #550-0022 was completed on 14th February 1955, finished in white paint with blue darts, tan interior and engine # 90009. It was entered in the March 1955 Sebring race, yet remained as a spare car for Ed Crawford who drove 550-0019 instead. The red body with white racing darts and tan interior, it was fitted with engine number P90007 and was destined to be delivered to Max Hoffman dealership. Porsche 550 Spyder Chassis #550-0021Ĭhassis #550-0021 was the first red 550 spyder to be completed on 2nd February 1955 at the Porsche factory. The first race Bunker entered 550-0020 in was the 1955, 12 hour Sebring race. ![]() Once again is was ordered by Max Hoffman and the car was eventually purchased by Art Bunker, a prominent US racing driver who owned a Porsche – Volkswagen dealership in Kansas City. The body was painted blue with white tail darts and a tan interior. Porsche 550 Spyder Chassis #550-0020Ĭhassis #550-0020 was the fourth customer type 550 spyder built by Porsche in Zuffenhausen and completed on the 2nd February 1955, with Type 547 engine number 90006. 550-0019 was blue with white darts, fitted with engine #90002. The new owner was experienced racer Ed Crawford, who wanted to upgrade from his Porsche 356 America. Porsche 550 Spyder Chassis #550-0019Ĭhassis #550-0019 was completed on 27th January 1955 and exported to the US at the same time as 550-0017 to Hoffman’s dealership. Aherns raced the spyder at a number of tracks in Germany throughout 1955. It was raced at the Ice Race at Lake Feden in winter and it won. As it was the first customer spyder, there was a great photo opportunity to hand over the keys to the new owner. The 550 was white with red darts and beige interior with engine number 90002. ![]() Cunningham from Green Farms, Connecticut. The car was delivered on the 17th February to Hoffman’s VW dealership in New York. Briggs Cunningham was an American entrepreneur and sportsman, who took delivery of the spyder and entered it into the Fort Pierce races on 25th February 1955.Ĭhassis #550-0018 was the first delivered customer spyder, which was collected by Kurt Aherns on 15th January 1955. It was fitted with a quad cam engine # 90003 and was the first 550 spyder to be exported to the US. Max Hoffman placed his first order for one of the new customer 550 spyders on the 3rd November 1954 on behalf of the new owner, Mr Briggs S. Porsche 550 Spyder Chassis #550-0017Ĭhassis #550-0017 was completed on 19th January 1955 as a white spyder with blue darts and beige interior. It was sold to Josef Jeser and was raced in April 1955 at the Solitude Rally (and won). 550-0016 was finished with blue darts along its rounded rear fenders and a blue vinyl interior. The spyder was mated with the latest 1498cc type 547 quad cam engine design which started with the new numbering sequence of 90001. It was the third car to be delivered with 550-0018 delivered five days before. With an additional three bodies in production by December, 550-0016 was not completed until 20th January 1955. ![]() In many ways this car was still a prototype in nature because it was the first production car built by Wendler on its own frame, so they had to develop tooling and production techniques. Porsche 550 Spyder Chassis #550-0016Ĭhassis #550-0016 was the first production Porsche 550 Spyder and went into production in September 1954. The first ‘production’ 550 was assigned a 4-digit chassis number, 550-0016 with the last ‘documented’ spyder as 550-0090. Porsche assigned build numbers to each of the 550/1500RS cars built (RS short of rennsport which translates to ‘racing’ in English), with the prototype starting with 2-digit chassis numbers, 550-01 through to 550-15. For a full in-depth review of each chassis number please take a look at, we got most of this content from that wonderful site. Given that only 90 Porsche 550 Spyder’s were made, we decided to dive into each chassis and tell you a brief story about each variant and chassis number. Only 13 spyder-bodied prototypes were made ( Chassis #550-03 and #550-15) until regular production began in 1954 of the Porsche RS Spyder. These were quite successful on faster circuits, but the roadster was later preferred as a more saleable car. Two of these were fitted with removable hardtops ( Chassis #550-01 and #550-02) that transformed the diminutive roadster into a sleek coupe. One year before Porsche started production of the legendary RS Spyder, they experimented several unique 550 Prototypes. Porsche 550 Spyder Chassis Numbers & Stories Chassis #550-0016 to #550-0090
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