What's the deal with the 550 Spyder?

Just wondering where these cars are and if they are really rare or valuable.

I have looked and looked and looked, and cannot find one authentic 550 that was for sale/auctioned at even RM Auctions or Gooding and Co. and can't figure it out. You even come across 250 GTOs and 250 Spyders, but no 550s.

It would seem these would be really valuable and desirable. So where are they? Are they even street legal?

Steve

 

They are all with collectors. Yes, they are rare and when they come up for sale they bring seven figures.

If you want to see a few of the more active ones, they seem to appear at the Monterey Historics every August.

As for being street legal, I doubt they ever were.

 

Forgive my ignorance, but I have always believed that they are street legal. Why wouldn't they be?

 

Yep, they were/are street legal. It was the 50's.. You could have driven a horse in town without much complaint. The 550 was no worse than a horse.

And James Dean died in his - as he was driving on the street (Turnipseed killed him with a Ford).

 

Didnt Porsche only make 90 of them?

 

That was exactly my belief. I mean if the GT40 and the 427 Cobras were street legal, the 550 had to be.

 

I don't know what the laws were in the mid 1950s, so it might have been street legal. (Rich) people were driving 250 GTOs on the road during the 1960s, and those were basically just racing cars. I doubt there were bumper or safety tests, so you might have been able to register anything.

Road & Track test of the 550 Spyder here: http://www.europeancollectibles.com/OL_1955-550Spyder.aspx

 

I am not sure they even had to have turn signals in the 50's. It wasn't until the middle 60's that seatbelts were mandatory as standard equipment and rollover and bumper regs didnt get real bad until the early 70's. Even up into the early 70's bumpers on sports cars were largely decorative.

 

The GT40's needed conversion work to be street legal. They also made a MKIII with a 289 that was made to be street legal, but it didn't sell a lot.

The Cobra's where based on an already street legal car, first mostly just drivetrain modifications, the 427's came with giant flares and wider wheels.

 

Also interesting how Count Rossi achieved to have a Porsche 917 street legal, he had to register the car here in the U.S.

 

What needed to be changed?

 

Hmmm... a bit surprised that a 1500 lb car can only get a max 16 mpg. I KNOW the engine is meant to stay high in the rev band, but that still seems pretty inefficient.

If I had the $$$$$ to blow, I'd still love to own one

 

The pistons on all boxer motors are gigantic, its designed for large amounts fuel and air. Even new 911's if you step on em gas mileage plumets.

 

yes, you could drive a 550 on the street but not comfortably. i had a 550 [0048] with the full race rs engine...it was hard to start, loud, and you needed to keep the revs up.. it came with pretty much all the street equip except it had a plex windscreen and no wipers. on special order you could get a 550 with gs engine, a glass windshield, wipers and a bit more interior padding...i saw one in the late '60s when i had mine..the best documented street car was herbert von kajrion [sp?] the famous conductor of the berlin philharmonic.porsche made 91 cars and nowadays real 550s usually change hands privately for large sums

gas was cheap then and with a 20 gal tank i never bothered to check mileage.

 

that link is awesome! thanks

0-60 in 8.2, top speed 120....those are economy car numbers today. we are truly spoiled.

 

Consider this.

The 550 Spyder would run at over 120mph, and was a legitimate competitor on the track.

And it did that with an engine case, suspension, brakes, and controls stolen from the parts bins in Wolfsburg.

The 1500cc Twin Cam (517 I believe) was an absolute screamer. Considering that it would rev to 7500+, compared to the 5500 redline on the pushrod versions, is remarkable.

I REALLY want one of those Twin Cam flat fours. I would love to run one in my bug.

 

All you need is $100k to put one in a bug
Also, be sure you don't lug the engine, just like any 356 engine, only more so...they are meant to be revved, not lugged at under 2000rpm

You could always do a Dean Polopolus SOHC 4-cyl 911 engine for less.
http://advanceperformanceeng.com/home
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Was gonna say... the four cam engines in a crate are worth more then the average modern Porsche off the showroom floor.

And I don't think it's all that accurate to say that it was built from the VW parts bin. Even the early pushrod 356s are have different cylinder heads, and by the end of the run there wasn't much VW left in the engine.

 

No, I am aware at the cost of a twin cam. It would actually be cheaper to make my own from billet.

Actually, my ideal setup would be a Pauter Machine flat four, built to 3.2L or so.
I am in the process of building up a 2276cc stroker, but I would love one of the three piece cases. I could run far more boost with a stronger case, but I still want to run an OHC setup to allow for more revs. Yeah, I can lighten my flywheel, and sacrifice rotational mass that I would rather use for engine braking, and I can balance the rotating assembly, but there is only so much metal you can take, off. The largest failing of the air-cooled flat fours was the pushrods.

As far as the 'parts bin' thing being fair, I did not wish to imply that they were grabbed from the same line and installed, but that a lot of the parts that Porsche used during the first decade or so originated in Wolfsburg, were shipped to Stuttgart, and then given the Porsche treatment.

The shifters were the same, but the shift knob was better wood, the pedals were fitted with different pads, the heads were opened up slightly, and other finishing touches were added.

Yes, the engine in the 356 would preform better, and was breathed on more, but it was the same split case flat four, with the same engine tins, and cooling fan.

I would venture a guess, that it is not uncommon to find original 356 engines with the same casting marks as a VW engine of the same year.

 

Seems Beck is around and they still build a nice Spyder replica

http://www.beckspeedster.com/beckspyder550inventory.html

Very nice but I wouldnt want to get hit by an SUV in it

 

Not a lot of actual information on his site.

I requested more, but I would like some questions on it answered.

Does anyone here have any experience with them?

 

no, no, no!!!!! i had a 1951 356 that i did a total restoration on and very very few vw parts interchanged!!! this urban myth perhaps started with the # 1 prototype but by the time porsche was in production they made a majority of their own stuff...a friend of mine had a 1948 gemund coupe and it had a hirth rollercrank, chrome plated alloy cylinders and porsche rectangle-port heads. even the bosch distributor had a different advance curve.

however..when my old 550 needed a tuneup i called vasek polak [he answered the phone back then] and he said he had in stock the factory mercury-balanced rotor..$250.00 each!!! [you need 2 as the 550 had dual ignition] however if i wasn't interested in that last 2 hp i could use a vw bus rotor...six bucks.

 

Which parts did not swap?

That last few 356's I have worked on had parts that appeared identical to the ones on my Bug. I have seen broken spindles replaced with one pulled from a same year Typ1. Same with wheels, drums, bearings, and other parts.

Porsche had signed a business deal with VW in the late 40's, that provided Porsche with parts, supplies, materials, and finished components. A deal that lasted into the 60's.

Once Porsche was able to handle an on site foundry, then they redesigned the Typ1 engine.
There are minor differences, but not a lot. Aside from minor internal changes, the engine cases, overall dimensions and appearances between the Typ1 engine, and the Porsche pushrod engine are the same.

Granted the engines were changed after leaving Wolfsburg, and the later 356 used a Porsche built engine, but it was still based on the Typ1.

You mention that the crank, heads, and jugs are different. So? I can re-create the exact same mods in my garage, using a Typ1 as a base. Which means that it would have been simple for Porsche, and the crank was sourced from a third party.
All Porsche did was improve on the engine.

That does not mean that it is no longer a Typ1 engine. It is simply a modified Typ1 engine.

As far as the Bosch dizzy having a different curve, of corse it does.

With the mods Porsche made to the Typ1 engine, the dizzy had to be re-tuned, or else the ignition would fall flat on its face.
The different timing curve was to enable the higher revs that the Porsche tuned engine was capable of.

That is no more complicated then changing a cam, and two springs in the dizzy.
20 minute job.
Which is why Porsche did not use the vacuum advance dizzy like VW did. They stuck with the 009, and 010 dizzys, which are mechanical advance.


The 550 is another beast.

The engines in the 550's were designed and built in house in Stuttgart.
That is why the pushrods are gone, the ignition is beefier, and the heads flow better.

But parts do still swap over. You said yourself, the rotor. Same with plug wires, willing to bet that the 550 heads are threaded for the same size plug as the VW as well, not to mention, transaxle, starter, generator, generator stand, oil cap, engine tins, etc..

That is also why the 550 will rev past 7K, and the Typ1 will explode around 6K.

Besides, do you really think Ferry was going to ignore everything his father taught him, not to mention the engines, and cars he grew up designing, building and driving?

Consider this, when Dr. Ferdinand was released from prison in France, he was shown the 356 for the first time. When asked, he stated that he would have designed them the same way as his son had.

I dont see a son being that in tune with his fathers vision, abandoning the things that got them there in the first place.

Besides, Ferry was still Head Designer for VW at the same time he was getting Porsche off the ground.

 

A local 356 guy had him build a motor for his car, will be in an upcoming edition of Excellence magazine (not sure how long it takes from the photoshoot to printing though). I'm guessing if you really are interested you'd need to contact them and talk about your wants for the engine...that'll determine the costs.

I seem to recall the case is ~$8k and a complete engine in the 30k range, but your results may vary.