1955 Porsche 550 Spyder by Wendler
Images by Tim Scott courtesy of RM Sotheby’s
Debuting at the 1955 Frankfurt Motor Show and going on to race with Mike Marshall in events like the ’56 Sebring 12 Hours, this beautiful Porsche 550 Spyder has history to back up its good looks. It’s set to sell in Paris on the 3rd of February during RM Sotheby’s’ January auction.
The car, chassis 550-0068, is one of 75 customer 550s built by Porsche. When it left the factory in late 1955 it headed straight to the Frankfurt Motor Show.
At the time it was configured as a street car with a consideration to racing, featuring racing windscreen and alloy half tonneau over the passenger side of the cockpit, but also the moon hubcaps that were standard to the street car.
The car was shipped to Mike Marshall, an amateur racer based in Miami. He immediately took it racing, winning an SCCA race at Waterboro in South Carolina, before running in the December Speed Week at Nassau and placing fourth in the under-two-litre production race.
Marshall was quick in 1956, winning two SCCA Regional races at Punta Gorda in Florida, taking a first and second at Waterboro and going on to claim fourteenth overall and third in class in the Sebring 12-Hours with Porsche racing chief Huschke von Hanstein.
Image courtesy of RM Sotheby’s’ and the REVS Institute for Automotive Research Inc.
Marshall continued to race 0068 throughout 1956 and early 1957, but would eventually part with the car when he sold it to fellow amateur racer Joe Sheppard.
Sheppard, known as the Tampa Hotshoe, raced the car himself before lending it to a friend, Duncan Forlong, who ran it in two races at Dunnellon Park in Florida.
0068’s history gets a little murky at this point, but it’s believed to have gone to Bob Ross, who raced it at Sebring. During the ’80s Lynn Larson bought the car, selling it on to Phil Bagley who sent it to Italy.
In 1989 it was issued a FIVA licence number by the Automotoclub Storico Italiano, although the registration process was not completed until nearly a decade later, in 1997. Pierluigi Bartoli bought the car in 1993, eventually selling it to its current owner in 1999.
It has been beautifully maintained and is both ready and eligible for events like the Mille Miglia, Tour Auto, Le Mans Classic, Goodwood Revival, Monaco Historic Grand Prix and almost any historic racing event you can think of around the world.
Beautiful, significant and, most importantly, both usable and fast, this lovely 1955 Porsche 550 Spyder will head to auction on the 3rd of February at RM Sotheby’s’ Paris Sale. For more details hit the link.
Images by Tim Scott courtesy of RM Sotheby’s
