Description
The Porsche 550 was a sports car produced by Porsche from 1953-1956.
Inspired by the Porsche 356 Speedster which was created by Ferry Porsche and raced by Walter Glöckler in 1951, the factory decided to build such a car, being its first designed specifically for use in auto racing. The 550 is very low to the ground, in order to be efficient for racing. In fact, former German Formula One racer Hans Herrmann drove it under closed railroad crossing gates during the 1954 Mille Miglia
The 550 / 1500RS or Spyder became known as the “Giant Killer”, and gave Porsche its first overall win in a major sports car racing event, the 1956 Targa Florio.
In 1957, the works built a few RS with center-seat setup for racing in the new 1.5-liter Formula Two along with the Cooper-Climax and Cooper-Borgward. It was a very successful machine.
This model uses a brass pan chassis and a hybrid motor made of a modified Mabuchi armature in a Strombecker motor.
