Porsche 550

Porsche
Porsche 550 Spyder
550
Production period:	1953-1957
Class :	Sports car
Body versions :	Roadster
Engines:	Petrol engines : 1.5 liters (81–99 kW)
Length:	3700 mm
Width:	1610 mm
Height:	980 mm
Wheelbase :	2100 mm
Empty weight :	about 550 kg
Previous model	Glöckler-Porsche
successor	Porsche 718

The Porsche 550 , also known as the 1500 RS, was a racing car from Dr.-Ing. hc F. Porsche KG and was further developed from the Porsche 356 . The so-called Glöckler-Porsche is considered the immediate forerunner of this car .

General

At the beginning of the 1950s, Porsche had, with the Porsche 356, a sports car that was used in races, but not yet designed a special racing car. In 1950, the Frankfurt VW dealer Walter Glöckler and his operations manager Hermann Ramelow built a Spyder racing car based on the Porsche 356 , with which he won the title in the German Sports Car Championship . A year later, he was able to repeat his success with a new so-called Glöckler-Porsche , whose 1.5-liter four-cylinder boxer engine powered by alcohol generated 90 hp (66 kW) and won the championship title for the second time.

However, when the Glöckler-Porsche got tougher competition, Porsche decided to develop its own racing sports car. The car presented in 1953 had the type designation 550 according to the construction number. The first versions of the Porsche 550 produced in the bodyworks in Weinsberg were initially built for the works team as a coupé and a Spyder.

The vehicles built later from 1954 were Spyder. From the beginning of 1955, a little over a hundred Porsche 550s were produced by Wendler and sold to private customers for 24,600  DM (equivalent to around 62,900 euros based on today's purchasing power). Most of the cars were delivered in the USA. One of the buyers was the film actor James Dean , who had a fatal accident in the car.

Model development

550 (1953)

body

Front view of the 550 in the first version with the headlights just inserted.

Front view of the 550 in the later version with the headlights inserted at an angle.

The Porsche 550 had a flat box frame welded together from tubes that weighed 59 kg. Above it sat the 90 kg load-bearing body made of light metal. The first vehicles produced in 1953 were closed coupés for long-distance races such as in Le Mans or open Spyder. The coupé version of the car had a driving weight of 550 kg. Vehicles produced later were a little heavier at 590 kg.

In the cars manufactured from 1955 onwards, the front of the car was designed to be more aerodynamic, among other things through different headlights with lenses inclined backwards. The rear no longer had a hump and could be opened completely backwards, including the rear fenders.

There were concealed hinges and latches on the front and rear covers that could only be operated from inside the vehicle using cables. The front lid had a round opening in the middle for the quick release of the fuel tank underneath, which held 68 liters. A ventilation grille was inserted in the rear engine compartment lid.

The two doors were also made of light metal. The door handles outside had a lock. Thus, the car could be locked as usual in road operation. The one-piece windshield was made of laminated glass and curved around the cockpit. Either the removable fabric top or the attachment for the coupé could be attached to two straps on the top of the frame. The windshield could be completely removed and replaced with a plexiglass pane for racing use.

The car had two longitudinally adjustable bucket seats. The dashboard was firmly welded to the body and had a leatherette cover. This contained the instruments, switches for instrument lighting, headlights and windshield wipers, the control lights for oil pressure, charging current and high beam, as well as the ignition switch, starter push button and a socket.

The steering wheel was 420 mm in diameter and had three spokes.

landing gear

The car had independent suspension at the front and rear. The front wheels were individually suspended from double crank longitudinal links with needle bearings on the outside , with two adjustable transverse square torsion spring bars made of bundled spring leaves and a stabilizer . The rear suspension was a pendulum axle with a trailing arm each on a round torsion bar on the left and right. The shock absorbers were obtained from Fichtel & Sachs .

The car had hydraulically operated simplex drum brakes with a drum diameter of 280 mm. The 16-inch wheels had 5.00-16-RS tires at the front and 5.25-16-RS tires at the rear.

engine and gears

The Fuhrmann engine installed in the rear

For the Porsche 550, the then designer Ernst Fuhrmann developed an air-cooled 1.5-liter four-cylinder boxer engine (type 547). In the so-called Fuhrmann engine , the engine block, the cylinders and the cylinder heads were made of light metal. The four overhead camshafts were driven by vertical shafts. The engine had two Solex twin dump carburettors, twin ignition with two separate ignition distributors and two ignition coils. A separate 8 liter oil tank was installed for dry sump lubrication . The engine developed 110 hp (81 kW) at 7800 rpm and had a maximum torque of 121 Nm at 5000 rpm.

For a balanced weight distribution, the engine was installed in front of the rear axle ( mid-engine ). A single-disc dry clutch and a fully synchronized four-speed manual transmission are located behind the rear axle. The slip of the driven rear wheel on the inside of the curve is reduced when cornering by a ZF limited-slip differential .

550 A (1956)

body

Rear view of a Porsche 550 A.

The 550 A model introduced in 1956 received a tubular space frame instead of a flat frame . At 43 kg, this frame was 16 kg lighter than the flat frame and still more torsion-resistant. Body parts, which were previously necessary as stiffeners, could be built lighter, reducing the body weight by 27 kg to 63 kg.

The 550 A was lighter than the previous model and weighed 530 kg with the spare wheel ready to drive. The car had a larger tank that held 90 liters. With additional tanks, the amount of fuel could be increased to 130 liters.

landing gear

The pivot point has been lowered on the newly designed swing axle at the rear. There was still a stabilizer on the front axle.

The dual-circuit braking system was improved and still had drum brakes, but as a duplex brake on the front axle . The simplex brake remained on the rear axle. The jaws of the front brake were 60 mm and 20 mm wider than those of the rear brake. The wheel and tire dimensions remained unchanged.

engine and gears

The 550 A still had the four-cylinder boxer engine with 1498 cc. The compression was increased from 9.5: 1 to 9.8: 1 and the Solex has now been replaced by Weber double falling flow carburetors. With these changes, the engine output increased to 135 hp (99 kW) at 7200 rpm. The maximum torque of 145 Nm was 5900 rpm.

Instead of the four-speed gearbox, the vehicles now had five-speed manual transmissions. First gear was only intended for moving off and, like reverse gear, could only be engaged with a lock. In contrast to the four gears, it was not synchronized.

Racing history

1953 to 1957 - races in the sports car world championship

The Porsche 550 Spyder used in the Carrera Panamericana

The Porsche 550 made its racing debut at the Le Mans 24-hour race in 1953 . Porsche used two racing cars with the coupé body there because they had a better drag coefficient than the Spyder with the small one-man windshield. These vehicles, still equipped with the bumper motor, were driven by Richard von Frankenberg and Paul Frère in 15th place and by Helmut Glöckler and Hans Herrmann in 16th place. This means that they both took first and second places in the class up to 1500 cm³. Also at the Carrera Panamericana , the last world championship race in 1953, a 550 won the class in the S1.6 classification.

A year later, the 550 racing cars were equipped with the Fuhrmann engine and were able to achieve S1.5 class victory in most races. In addition to the 550 Spyder with the 1.5-liter engine, a car with a 1.3-liter engine started in the S1.1 class at Le Mans . The engine of this special 550 developed 93 hp (68 kW) at 5000 rpm and also won the class. At the Carrera Panamericana , Hans Herrmann took third place in the overall standings and secured class victory from Jaroslav Juhan , who also drove a 550 Spyder.

1955 was a very successful year for Porsche. The 550 racing cars regularly won class victories in the S1.5 classification in the World Sports Car Championship. In the German Sports Car Championship , Richard von Frankenberg won the last race with a Spyder that had been upgraded to 125 PS (92 kW) and was thus able to win the title in the racing class up to 1500 cm³ ahead of Edgar Barth , who drove an EMV racing car .

Porsche 550 A (bonnet not completely closed)

In the 1956 season, Porsche used the further developed 550 A from the Mille Miglia . In the first races, Hans Herrmann had to park the car early. However, Wolfgang von Trips and Umberto Maglioli were already able to drive the car, also known as the 550 RS Spyder, to fourth place overall at the 1000 km race on the Nürburgring and celebrate class victory. The two other Porsche works drivers Richard von Frankenberg and Hans Herrmann achieved sixth place with their car. Umberto Maglioli achieved the greatest success for Porsche to date with the 550 A at the Targa Florio. With a lead of almost 15 minutes over his pursuers, the Italian secured the first overall victory for Porsche in motorsport.

At the end of 1956, Porsche developed a successor to the 550. This car, officially called the Porsche 645 , was nicknamed Mickey Mouse because of its shortened wheelbase to 2000 mm, the narrower track and shorter body dimensions . However, the car turned out to be unusable due to its driving behavior and its development was not followed up on the AVUS after an accident with Richard von Frankenberg .

1957 was the last year in which the works team only used the 550 A racing car. Although Porsche regularly won the 1500 cc class in the world championship races , work was already underway on the successor Porsche 718 , which was then used for the first time in the 1000 km race in Caracas and was driven by Fritz Huschke von Hanstein and Edgar Barth who won the S2.0 class.

1957 to 1959 - Participation in the European Hill Climb Championship

A Porsche 550 RS Spyder at the Gaisbergrennen 2006

From 1957 to 1959 the Porsche 550 was used by private racing drivers in the 1957 European Hill Climb Championship . Heini Walter achieved the best result in a mountain championship run in 1958 and Anton von Döry in 1959 at the Schauinsland hill climb, each with fifth place.

1958 to 1959 - Displacement by the Porsche 718

In 1958, Porsche competed in the world championship races mainly with the 718 RSK. The 550 A was only used by the factory in four championship races and by private teams. In the 1000 km race on the Nürburgring , works drivers Richard von Frankenberg, Carel Godin de Beaufort and Edgar Barth with the 550 RS were able to place themselves in sixth place in front of their teammates Harry Schell and Paul Frère with the 718 RSK and win the class.

The last successful race of a Porsche 550 in the sports car world championship was at the Targa Florio . In the race, Eberhard Mahle , Paul-Ernst Strähle and Herbert Linge finished second behind the Porsche 718 RSK driven by Edgar Barth and Wolfgang Seidel .

The results from 1953 to 1959

1953

1954

1955

1956

1957

1958

1959

Technical specifications

Porsche Spyder:	550/1500 RS (1954)	550 A / 1500 RS (1956)
Engine:	4-cylinder boxer engine (four-stroke)
Displacement:	1498 cc	1498 cc
Bore × stroke:	85 × 66 mm	85 × 66 mm
Performance at 1 / min:	81 kW (110 PS) at 7800	99 kW (135 PS) at 7200
Max. Torque at 1 / min	117 Nm (12.1 mkp) at 5000	145 Nm (14.8 mkp) at 5900
Compression:	9.5: 1	9.8: 1
Valve control:	two overhead camshafts, driven by vertical shafts
Cooling:	Air cooling (vertical fan)
Transmission:	4-speed gearbox	5 speed transmission
Brakes:	Drum brakes
Front suspension:	Crank arm axle with stabilizer
Rear suspension:	Pendulum axle (550 A with low pivot point, guided on transverse and trailing arms)
Front suspension:	2 continuous leaf spring bars
Rear suspension:	1 round torsion bar on each side
Body:	Light metal on a flat frame	Tubular space frame
Track width front / rear:	1290/1250 mm
Wheelbase :	2100 mm
Tires rim:	front 5.00 - 16 RS, rear 5.25 - 16 RS
Dimensions L × W × H:	3600 × 1540 × 1050 mm	3700 × 1610 × 980 mm
Dry weight :	approx. 550 kg	approx. 540 kg
Top speed:	approx. 225 km / h	approx. 240 km / h

Porsche 550 Spyder Replicas

550 Spyder Interior (Replica)

Since only 118 racing cars were produced between 1953 and 1957, these are very rarely offered for sale and are accordingly expensive. A 550 auctioned in the US in 2012 fetched 2.79 million euros.

A market has developed in which detailed reproductions, so-called replicas, are sold at relatively low cost. One of these manufacturers is, for example, the Brazilian company Chamonix . The Spyder, which is a replica of the original car, can only be identified as a copy by experts.

The basic structure corresponds to the original with the ladder frame and the motor-gearbox arrangement. Only the body is made of plastic instead of aluminum. The vehicle weight is 580 kg. An air-cooled four-cylinder boxer engine from VW (type 4) is installed, which has an output of 103 kW (140 hp).

Such replicas are also interesting for customers who are enthusiastic about motorsport. The FIA accepts replicas at historical racing events if their technology corresponds exactly to that of the historical original.

literature

• Schneider, Peter: Type compass Porsche. Racing and racing sports cars since 1948. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-613-02300-8 .
• Lothar Boschen, Jürgen Barth: The big book of Porsche types. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-613-01284-7 .
• Lothar Boschen, Jürgen Barth: The big book of Porsche special types and designs. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 1984, ISBN 3-87943-805-6 .
• Karl-Heinz Edler, Wolfgang Roediger: The German racing cars. Technical development over the past 20 years. Fachbuchverlag, Leipzig 1990, ISBN 3-343-00435-9 .
• Karl Ludvigsen: Porsche. Excellence Was Expected . Bentley Publishers, Cambridge (USA) 2003, ISBN 0-8376-0235-1 ; here: pp. 94–131. (German: Heel-Verlag, Königswinter 2008)
• Brochure W 21 / 57-9.58-III. Edition 1958 - Dr.-Ing. hc F. Porsche KG
• Richard von Frankenberg: The unusual history of the Porsche company. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 1960 (4th edition 1969)

Web links

Commons : Porsche 550  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} Jürgen Barth, Gustav Büsing: The great book of the Porsche types. Race car. P. 10.
2. ^ ^{A b} Jürgen Barth, Gustav Büsing: The great book of the Porsche types. Race car. P. 8.
3. ^ ^{A b} Jürgen Barth, Gustav Büsing: The great book of the Porsche types. Race car. P. 9.
4. ↑ Uwe Schmitt: The curse of the Porsche Spyder. In: Welt.de. August 24, 2005, accessed June 18, 2019 . 
5. ↑ Fabian Hoberg: James Dean's death drive in a Porsche - From little bastard to giant. In: Spiegel Online. October 10, 2015, accessed June 18, 2019 . 
6. ^ ^{A b c d} Jürgen Barth, Gustav Büsing: The great book of the Porsche types. Race car. P. 17.
7. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h} Jürgen Barth, Gustav Büsing: The great book of the Porsche types. Race car. P. 18.
8. ↑ Jürgen Barth, Gustav Büsing: The great book of the Porsche types. Race car. P. 29.
9. ^ ^{A b c d e} Jürgen Barth, Gustav Büsing: The great book of the Porsche types. Race car. P. 19.
10. ^ ^{A b c d} Jürgen Barth, Gustav Büsing: The great book of the Porsche types. Race car. P. 20.
11. ↑ Jürgen Barth, Gustav Büsing: The great book of the Porsche types. Race car. P. 21.
12. ↑ ^{a b} Classicscars - Website: Race results of the Sports Car World Championship 1953. At: www.classicscars.com , accessed on June 3, 2019 . 
13. ↑ ^{a b} Classicscars - Internet site: Race results of the Sports Car World Championship 1954. At: www.classicscars.com , accessed on June 3, 2019 . 
14. ↑ Classicscars - Internet site: Race results of the Sports Car World Championship 1955. At: www.classicscars.com , accessed on June 3, 2019 . 
15. ^ ^{A b c} Jürgen Barth, Gustav Büsing: The great book of the Porsche types. Race car. P. 12.
16. ↑ Classicscars - Internet site: Race results of the Sports Car World Championship 1956. At: www.classicscars.com , accessed on June 3, 2019 . 
17. ↑ Jürgen Barth, Gustav Büsing: The great book of the Porsche types. Race car. P. 13.
18. ↑ Classicscars - Internet site: Race results of the Sports Car World Championship 1957. From : www.classicscars.com , accessed on June 3, 2019 . 
19. ↑ Euromontagna - website: 1958-07-20 ADAC Freiburg-Schauinsland. From: www.euromontagna.com , accessed June 3, 2019 . 
20. ↑ Euromontagna - website: 1959-07-26 Freiburg-Schauinsland. From: www.euromontagna.com , accessed June 3, 2019 . 
21. ↑ Classicscars - Internet site: Race results of the 1958 World Sports Car Championship. At: www.classicscars.com , accessed on June 3, 2019 . 
22. ↑ Classicscars - Website: Race results of the Sports Car World Championship 1959. At: www.classicscars.com , accessed on June 3, 2019 . 
23. ↑ ^{a b c d} Auto-Motor-und-Sport - Internet site: Porsche 550 Spyder Replica - The little bastard. At: www.auto-motor-und-sport.de , accessed on June 5, 2019 .