Image of Porsche 550 Spyder

Porsche 550 Spyder specs

Car type Convertible
Curb weight 550-684 kg (1213-1508 lbs)
Introduced 1954
Origin country Germany
Views 17.8k
Submitted by Jeff B

Performance

0 - 30 mph2.6 s
0 - 40 mph4.6 s
0 - 50 mph6.2 s
0 - 60 mph8.2 s
0 - 70 mph11.6 s
0 - 80 mph15.0 s
0 - 90 mph19.6 s
0 - 100 mph25.2 s
1/4 mile16.1 s
Top speed221 kph (137 mph)

Powertrain specs

Engine type Flat-4
Displacement 1.5 l (92 ci)
Power 112 ps (110 bhp / 82 kw) @ 6200 rpm
Torque 120 Nm (89 lb-ft) @ 5000 rpm
Power / liter 74 ps (73 hp)
Power / weight 181 ps (178 bhp) / t
Torque / weight 194 Nm (143 lb-ft) / t
Transmission 4-Speed Manual
Layout middle engine, rear wheel drive
User avatar
User avatar

geoffTheGOAT  1y ago

65381525395d.jpg?550x800m

Data from Road&Track contradicts with data existing here a bit:
Power: 137 hp@6200 rpm
Torque: 95.5 ft-lbs@5500 rpm
Top speed: 121.6 mph
Fuel Consumption: 10/16 mpg
Luckily acceleration stats and 1/4 mile time are same:)


User avatar

Boah Hancock  3y ago

James Dean died in this car.

And I was the last person to know about this incident.

Not a Safe car my friends.


User avatar

Fangio Man  12y ago

@lafars
There are many other people who said what happened later.

Like Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips.
After an accident with Jim Clark, von Trips and 16 other people died, over 60 others were injured!

He said, if he ever is involved in a crash in which spectators die, he would like to die too.


User avatar

lafars  12y ago

"As the story is told, the 24-year-old Dean was enthralled by the car, but his friends expressed a dark foreboding about the vehicle. It was said that actor Alec Guiness told Dean to get rid of the car or he would be dead within the week, which was exactly what happened. Another friend, George Barris, said the car seemed to give off "a weird feeling of impending doom." Dean's girlfriend, actress Ursula Andress, refused to even get in the car. and Nick Adams said the car made him "uncomfortable."

they say the car was cursed and judging by the reaction of his frends it kind of seems like it, heck even a car using the engine of the "little bastard" and another one using the gearbox crahed later on


User avatar

lafars  12y ago

sometimes, the words they said were a bit too acurate :P

i wonder if there are others who have said stuff like that and it has happend later?


User avatar

Fangio Man  12y ago

It was really one week before his death?

What a premonition!

Jochen Rindt said about the Lotus 42:
"Either I become world champion, or I will die in this car..."

He died and became posthumously F1 world champion...


User avatar

lafars  12y ago

"If you get in that car, you will be found dead in it by this time next week." -guiness on james deans little bastard (porsche 550)

1 week later he crashed and died...R.I.P


User avatar

Fangio Man  12y ago

Its actual price is 3.685.000 $.


User avatar

Shaggy  12y ago

@ Viking: It was the same with the 1964 Porsche 911, 135 MPH top speed with only 140 horsepower. Those Porsche engineers were geniuses!


User avatar

Mental  12y ago

I always loved this thing. Fast, agile, beautiful, full of successful racing history.


User avatar

Viking  12y ago

@Shaggy one of the reasons that these Spyders can go so fast with so little horsepower is that they have such a small frontal area. They are small cars. Probably the ultimate version is the 718k RS 60 race car that came out in 1960. Due to new race regulations it had a wider cockpit, a trunk, and a taller windshield, but it was still very small. It had a 1.6 liter flat four with 160 hp at 7800 rpm, and a five speed manual. It was 145.7" long, 86.6" wheelbase, front track 50.8", rear track 49.2" and a claimed weight of just under 1300 lbs. Probably with fluids only 1400 lbs, and maybe 1580 lbs with driver. Very small indeed.


User avatar

Shaggy  12y ago

The 550 Spyder was an amazing car for its day, 140 MPH, and with only 110 horsepower, it usually takes around 200 horsepower to go that fast in a car.


User avatar

Viking  12y ago

Road and Track tested this in the February 1957 issue. Price as tested was $6800. It had 137 hp and 95.5 lb/ft torque. Curb weight was 1510 lbs. 0-60 mph: 8.2 seconds; 0-100 mph: 25.2; 1/4 mile: 16.1 @ 83.0 mph; and top speed was 122 mph. Kinda neat finding such an old road test.


User avatar

Super8  13y ago

One of this car owner is...... James Dean! Im still not born to saw the accident


User avatar

Mike B  14y ago

Don't be sorry, I like to research about this kind of things :P


User avatar

gallardo man  14y ago

only 53.... thats explains its 2 million price tag... and the 1/24 scale model cost 200 bucks....


User avatar

Jeff B  14y ago

Road legal 917 cars were created by Porsche I think it should count...
Anyway sorry for making you waste your time over this Mike :]


User avatar

Mike B  14y ago

I should of research more, so, they made 53, well, the point is that they weren't made road legal for homologation, just owners wanting them to be road legal, I guess that doesn't count... do we still have the MC12 Corsa here?


User avatar

gallardo man  14y ago

imagine how expensive this car is....


User avatar

Jeff B  14y ago

And I know you're not a mod lol, but road cars were made, im just sayin.


User avatar

Jeff B  14y ago

Heres production notes, a little bit confusing but road cars were made
http://wsrp.ic.cz/chassis/chassis_porsche_917.html


User avatar

Mike B  14y ago

No, they only made 25 cars, all for racing, I only found that 2 were converted for road use but that wasn't Porsches doing.

and I'm not a mod, I can't let you add it XD


User avatar

Jeff B  14y ago

Yes, and 12 production cars, so lemme add it!


User avatar

Mike B  14y ago

They made 25 racing cars.


User avatar

Jeff B  14y ago

Not actually true as far as ive read. Porsche was required to build 50 for homologation purposes in 1970 according to FIA regulations. Porsche only built 12 road cars, saying it was too expensive to build more. Somehow they got away with it, but what im saying is they did make 12 road car 917s called the 917K.


User avatar

Mike B  14y ago

R390
F1 LM
F1 GT
CLK GTR
911 GT1 Strassenversion

Are in fact road legal production cars made for homologation purposes.

The GT40 is the MKIII road legal version, it was made because of customer demand, the GT40 was a prototype so it required no homologation, the same applies to the 917 you added which was never made road legal by Porsche themselves.


User avatar

Jeff B  14y ago

So my Porsche 917 didnt get added. Are we not allowed to add Le Mans Race Car homoligations? Because the GT40 is on the site, among others...