Porsche 550
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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The Porsche 550 was a sports car produced by Porsche from 1953-1956.
Inspired by the Porsche 356 Speedster which was created by Ferry Porsche and raced by Walter Glöckler in 1951, the factory decided to build such a car, being its first designed specifically for use in auto racing. The 550 is very low to the ground, in order to be efficient for racing. In fact, former German Formula One racer Hans Herrmann drove it under closed railroad crossing gates during the 1954 Mille Miglia
The 550 / 1500RS or Spyder became known as the "Giant Killer", and gave Porsche its first overall win in a major sports car racing event, the 1956 Targa Florio.
Its successor from 1957 onwards, the Porsche 718, was even more successful, scoring points in Formula One as late as 1963. A descendant of the Porsche 550 is generally considered to be the Porsche Boxster S 550 Spyder; the Spyder name was effectively resurrected with the RS Spyder Le Mans Prototype.
The Porsche 550 "Little Bastard" is infamous for being the car in which James Dean was killed on September 30, 1955.
