Vehicle Details

• Year: 1955
• Make: Porsche
• Model: 550 Spyder Replica
• VIN: 1112648702
• Mileage Shown: 9,015km
• Transmission: Manual
• Title Status: Clean
• Color: Voodoo Blue
• Seller Type: Private Party
• Location: Joppa, MD 21085
• Lot #: V-0042523-DT

A faithful recreation of Porsche's legendary 1955 550 Spyder race car, this replica is based on a Thunder Ranch Deluxe 550 Spyder kit delivered unbuilt to its original owner in Tennessee in 2009. It changed hands with another owner in Connecticut before it was purchased by the seller in 2017. The car was subsequently custom fabricated and built by hand using high-end parts from Fibersteel and Sierra Madre before it was completed in the Summer of 2020. It features a 1,914cc flat-four engine built by Jake Raby, a rebuilt transmission, heated bucket seats, a Brandwood cable shifter, Empi disc brakes, custom Porsche 914 gauges, a removable Plexiglas windscreen, cast aluminum Vintage 190 wheels, and more. This painstakingly built 550 Spyder replica is now being offered for auction by its seller out of Maryland.

Upon the seller’s purchase, the car’s 3” steel tube frame was extended about 15” inches to accommodate functional jack points. The rear frame is augmented by a removable drilled "K" member to match the original 550 frames, and the spare tire is mounted in a "seat" as the original. Period-correct Autopulse 500 fuel pumps were gutted and cosmetically restored with custom manifolds and brackets, then mounted on the aluminum rocker boxes, with the working Carter rotary pump plumbed in behind them. The VW Beetle fuel tank has been modified to put the filler 5" aft of those in most 550 replicas, to match the originals. A steel cover was crafted to give the appearance of the hand-hammered 24-gallon original tanks, held down with the correct steel straps. Brake cooling ducts were also fabricated and installed in front.

The car was finished in the Toyota color of Voodoo Blue in 2019 using two-stage paint with white darts and gold pinstripes under the clear coat. The underside of the hood is smoothed and painted, and the rear clam features operable turn-key latches, augmenting the usual remote pull latches. Locating pins are also present, as are the aluminum "Swiss cheese" reinforcement panel and ratcheting clam stay. The Fibersteel full-width plexiglass windscreen can be removed and replaced with a full-framed glass Speedster windshield. A tested, working wiper kit can then be affixed. The car also comes with a Beck Spyder top, which has never been fitted. It rides on Empi cast aluminum Vintage 190 wheels measuring 5.5”x15” at the rear and 4.5”x15” up front, with Vredestein Sprint Classic 165/80s on all four corners, purchased in 2019. The spare is a Federal in the same size but on a steel 4.5 x 15 Mangel wheel, date coded “2908”. The seller adds that some paint chips and swirls are present on the exterior as well as an imperfection in front of the hood fuel filler left from where the original hole was located.

The cockpit is paneled in aluminum, flanged, and riveted to resemble the authentic 550 Spyder. A floating wood floor was installed ahead of the bulkhead, and the parking brake handle was mounted to the left of the shifter as on the original. The seats were upholstered in beige Barberpole vinyl as were the firewall, rocker boxes, and insides of the doors. All of the interior vinyl is held by Velcro and can be removed in minutes according to the seller. Accessories include heated bucket seats, an ivory shift knob, pull switches, a three-position key switch, a push-button starter, a banjo-style steering wheel, custom offset foot pedals, a high beam foot switch, a dash-mounted rearview mirror and a reproduction, operable lever jack strapped in outboard of the passenger seat. The gauges were sourced from a Porsche 914 and reworked by North Hollywood Speedometer for a period-correct look.

Power comes from a 1,914cc Type 1 flat-four engine built by Jake Raby and sourced from Beck/Special Edition Speedster replica with a reported 1,200 miles driven. The engine features a balanced 69mm crank and 94mm bores, Bugpack 044 heads, an Engle w125 camshaft with .460 lift, heavy-duty rockers with steel pushrods, and dual Weber 44 carburetors including CB Performance hex bar linkage modified with heim joints to prevent wear. The engine is dressed in a Raby DTM fan shroud and includes a custom-made 547-style auxiliary breather and Accusump accumulator for pre-oiling. A spin-on filter is mounted on the torsion housing, plumbed with a braided hose and AN fittings to the pump. Exhaust headers collect at Magnaflow three-chamber mufflers and merge under the license plate. The rear wheels are driven through a rebuilt 4-speed manual VW Beetle transmission with a 3.44 ring and pinion, a .93 fourth gear, and a Brandwood cable shifter modified to resemble a 550 unit. Stopping power comes from Empi disc brakes with proper emergency brake cable fittings on the rear, covered by aluminum drum skins. The seller adds that the valves and carburetors were recently adjusted.

This sale will include owner’s manuals, a spare tire, full and half tonneau covers, a second windscreen, a wiper arm kit, a folding top, spare axle boots ignition software and adapter cables, extra valve covers and bails, a deck latch key, and a clean title.

The seller would like you to know: “I went down the 550 rabbit hole building this car, working to get the smallest details right. And by "right," I mean "not perfect." These were hand-built race cars, built to a high standard, which in 1955 meant stuff like the rolled vinyl wind blockers in the front door gap. There are hammer marks where the originals had them, rivets and screws lined up and spaced less than laser straight. And I built it to feel like a real one:  The top speed of each gear is very close—sometimes exactly—to what the original cars had. It was built to be driven.”

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Seller: eericson 

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