Porsche 550 Spyder

Porsche 550 RS

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Porsche 550 Spyder

The Porsche 550 was a sports car automobile produced by Porsche during the 1950s. Download high resolution version (1000x536, 98 KB)Porsche 550 Spyder Photo by: Softeis June 2004 at Salzburg, Gaisenberg-Rennen GNU-FDL File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Download high resolution version (1000x536, 98 KB)Porsche 550 Spyder Photo by: Softeis June 2004 at Salzburg, Gaisenberg-Rennen GNU-FDL File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Download high resolution version (901x438, 98 KB)Porsche 550 RS Photo by: Softeis June 2004 at Salzburg, Gaisenberg-Rennen GNU-FDL File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Download high resolution version (901x438, 98 KB)Porsche 550 RS Photo by: Softeis June 2004 at Salzburg, Gaisenberg-Rennen GNU-FDL File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Commons-logo. ... The Wikimedia Commons (also called Commons or Wikicommons) is a repository of free content images, sound and other multimedia files. ... A small variety of cars, the most popular kind of automobile. ... Porsche (), properly pronounced as a two syllable word (porsh-eh, IPA: ) , is a German manufacturer of sports cars, founded in 1931 by Ferdinand Porsche, the engineer who created the first Volkswagen. ... // Events and No. ...

The 550 was the first Porsche designed specifically for use in auto racing. It became known as Spyder or RS, and gave Porsche its first overall win in a major sports car racing event, the 1956 Targa Florio. Auto racing (also known as automobile racing, autosport or motorsport) is a sport involving racing automobiles. ... Spyder or Spider is a term for a convertible car body style. ... GTP sports cars racing at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in 1991 Sports car racing is a form of circuit racing, with purpose-built cars that nevertheless have enclosed wheel wells and often have closed cockpits. ... Targa Florio The Targa Florio was an open road endurance automobile race held near Palermo, Sicily. ...

Its successor, the Porsche 718, was even more successful from 1957 on. The Porsche 718 was an automobile from Porsche released in 1958 and built until 1962. ...

History

Introduced in 1953 at the Paris Motor Show, the 550 featured an aluminum body wrapped over a tubular ladder chassis with a mid/rear mounted, 1.5 litre, air-cooled flat-four engine. Although 2 units were produced with a modified OHV Volkswagen engine, Porsche's "Type 547" engine, designed by Dr. Ernst Fuhrmann was standard fare for all other 550s. The unit was very advanced for its day, as it had four camshafts that were all driven by the crankshaft, helping provide 110 bhp (very strong for a vehicle of such light weight). With the quad-cam engine powering it, the 550 was capable of performance very comparable to—and in many cases better than—Ferrari and Jaguar models with larger engines. The particularly rare 356 Carrera model was the only other Porsche vehicle ever to feature this powerplant. 1953 (MCMLIII) is a common year starting on Thursday. ... The Mondial de lAutomobile (Paris Motor Show in English) is an annual auto show in Paris. ... Volkswagen, pronounced folksvagen meaning: peoples car (also known as VW) is an automobile manufacturer based in Wolfsburg, Germany in the State of Lower Saxony. ... BHP may refer to: Broken Hill Proprietary Company BHP Billiton BHP Steel Brake horsepower This page concerning a three-letter acronym or abbreviation is a disambiguation page—a list of articles associated with the same title. ... The current Ferrari logo Ferrari is an Italian manufacturer of high-end Formula One cars, race cars, Exotic cars and high-performance sports cars formed by Enzo Ferrari in 1929. ... Jaguar Cars is a British automobile manufacturer. ... The Porsche 356 Carrera was a version of Porsches 356 sports-car built for 1956 and 1957. ...

Although Porsche had raced with the 356 for several years already, the 550 was distinct in that it was the company's first purpose-built racecar. The factory successfully campaigned the 550 in international auto racing, headed by the vehicle's premier win at the 1954 24 Hours of Le Mans, where it won its class. 1954 (MCMLIV) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

Later that year Porsche began a production run of customer cars, building 90 units in total before replacing the original 550 with the extensively reworked 550A in 1956. 1956 (MCMLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The 550A variant sported various improvements over the outgoing model, including a spaceframe chassis, the latest version of the Fuhrmann four-cam engine mated to a five-speed transmission, and a multi-link rear suspension setup which reduced oversteer and improved handling.

Replicas

The 550 is among the most frequently reproduced classic automobiles, like the Shelby Cobra and Lotus Seven. Several companies have sprung up in the last 25 years, some of which build near-exact replicas from the ground up, including spaceframes built to exacting specs from Porsche blueprints. 427 A/C Shelby America CSX 4109 Cobra Signature Series #3 of 4 The AC Cobra was a powerful Anglo-American sports car built in the 1960s. ... Lotus Super Seven The Lotus Seven is a small, simple, lightweight two-seater open-top sports car, which has been called a motorcycle on four wheels. It is the most successful inexpensive exotic sports car. ...

Trivia

• This was the car that James Dean was driving when he crashed and was killed.
• The modern Porsche Boxster is considered a descendant of the Porsche 550.
• This car can be found in Microsoft's Project Gotham Racing 2

James Byron Dean (February 8, 1931 – September 30, 1955) was an American film actor who epitomized youthful angst. ... The Porsche Boxster is a convertible sports car released in late 1996. ... Microsoft Corporation, (NASDAQ: MSFT) headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA, was founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen. ... Project Gotham Racing 2 (PGR2 for short) is a racing game for the Xbox, developed by Bizarre Creations and published by Microsoft and is the sequel to the highly successful Project Gotham Racing. ...

External links

• 986 and 987 Forum boards