Porsche Spyders - Stasher.us

Beginning with 550-03 the rear trailing arms pivoted
from the front, with new towers to hold shocks in a
more vertical position. The entire rear decklid opened
and the engine valve covers of a revised type 547 engine
displayed the Porsche name. Hans von Nolde photo
a generic sense to refer to all of these cars. In
actuality, the term “Spyder” was invented by Max
Hoffman to market the Type 550 customer cars.
Based on photographic evidence, the name appeared
in a script attached to the front fender of
the first production/customer 550s. The script
was deleted in later years when the cars no
longer needed a sales pitch. From the 550A onward,
you had to be someone noteworthy to be
considered for ownership. No marketing was
needed, or wanted, by the people in the racing
and service departments. If you were not directly
known to Porsche KG people like Huschke von
Hanstein or Wolfgang Raether, then Max Hoffman
or Herbert Dramm were the U.S. people
with whom you needed to be on good terms.
During the nine years of Spyder production
the series went through a number of type number
designations including 550, 550A, and 718.
There were some additional sub-designations including
RS, RSK, RS60 and RS61. Like the term
“Spyder,” the term RS has some mis-connotation
associated with it. Some write as if it was used
to distinguish the 550A from the 550. Research
of original Porsche literature and data plates
however shows that Porsche started using the
“RS” term with the very first customer versions
of the 550 – well before the 550A.
In the past, owners and auction houses
were very picky about serial numbers when discussing
the 550/550A cars – should they be two
16 Volume 35, Number 4 • Porsche 356 Registry
digit, three digit, or four digit numbers since
Porsche changed their approach over time. The
bottom line is that the earliest (prototype) cars
used two digit serial numbers (e.g. 550-06), the
customer (production) 550 cars used a four
digit serial number (e.g. 550A-0144) and the
718 cars, with one exception, used a three digit
serial number. More details later.
As for production numbers, the last
550/550A Spyder serial number produced is believed
to be 550A-0146. The 550 and 550A numbers
were not a continuous series and there is a
gap of ten between the two types and another
gap of six numbers in the 550A series. As for the
Type 718 series, approximately 73 cars were
built. Taking all this into account, there were a
total of approximately 203 Spyders built by
Porsche. The word approximately in the previous
sentence is important because new information
is always being uncovered. We must allow
for the possibility that Porsche may have skipped
some chassis numbers, re-used some chassis
numbers or assigned a new frame or body plate
number to a car rebuilt after a wreck. After all,
they engaged in this practice with their less expensive
356 cars. And once cars were in the
hands of private owners, shops that rebodied
cars in the ‘50s and ‘60s may have changed
numbers. This was not necessarily done as an
intentional deception but because whatever
parts were available were being re-used.
Overall, there were not a lot of cars built
and most led high-profile lives. So, one might
conclude that establishing the history of each car
wouldn’t be too difficult. Not so. Unlike the steel
356 cars, Porsche did not keep a Kardex-like
warranty system for the 550/550A or 718. There
is variable factory documentation remaining on
how each car was configured and to whom it
was sold. Originally the factory kept detailed
records on their own race cars and racing but
uncovering this information often requires the
sleuthing of Indiana Jones. Considering the
range of record keeping and the fact that Spyders
were often generously modified by both the
factory and private owners after sale, tracking
individual car provenance can be challenging.
This has led to debates between enthusiasts as
to the general and specific history of Porsche’s
first Rennsport cars.
Type 550 Pre-production Cars
The initial batch of factory 550s wore two
digit serial numbers from 550-01 through 550-
15. This group of cars, assigned the task of factory
racers, varied significantly in body design
and mechanical details. Despite the fact that
Porsche was experimenting with the design of
the 550 during this period, the factory racers
were very successful on the track. At Le Mans in
1953 two push-rod 550 coupes (sic) were
awarded first and second in the 1500 class. In