#2 - 175

FROM THE AUTO RACING ARCHIVES: A RETRO ROCKET!
PORSCHE 550S SPYDER ~ recreation by Beck
Racing has always been the lifeblood of Porsche. From the day the first 356 prototype won its class at Innsbruck, just weeks after it rolled out of the sheds at Gmünd, Germany in June 1948, competition has been at the core of Porsche’s psyche, driving virtually everything it has done during the last 60 years.

In its long and illustrious history, the Stuttgart factory has arguably produced some of the greatest and most successful race cars the world has ever seen. Cars like the mighty 917s and all-conquering 956/962s, which in turn gave rise to the 911 GT1 of the ’90s and the LMP2-winning RS Spyder of today; Porsches that can trace their ancestry to one of the most seminal Porsches of all – the iconic 550 Spyder.

Penned by Erwin Komenda, and built around Ernst Fuhrmann’s revolutionary quad-cam flat-four, the mid-engine, aluminium-bodied 550 RS Spyder was Porsche’s first true race car. The ‘550’ being derived for the car’s light racing weight, 550kgs.

Light, agile and deceptively quick, the robust little two-seater was everything Ferry Porsche thought a race car should be. On debut, it took a surprise win at the Nürburgring Eifel Races on May 31, 1953, before taking class honours not only at Le Mans that year, but on the gruelling Carrera Panamericana too.

The 550 dominated the 1500cc class in all the major races during subsequent years and the 550 quickly became the car to have among professional and enthusiast drivers alike when the production version was released in 1954.

Porsche only built 100 550 Spyders and of course, of all those who snapped one up in the US none would become more famous than one purchased by James Dean, who was infamously killed while driving his ‘Little Bastard’ to a race in Salinas, California in 1955.

With Dean’s untimely death adding to the car’s legendary status, it’s little wonder that the rare and exotic 550 Spyder has become one of the most iconic and collectable models. The best original 550S Spyders are fetching over A$4million, it is now a car only the seriously wealthy can afford. Lindsay Fox now owns the original Porsche 550Spyder imported into Australia by Norman Hamilton back in 1954 along with the world’s first right hand drive 356A.
It was inevitable that an enterprising soul would get around to recreating replicas. American Chuck Beck is widely acknowledged as the first to make a decent fist of one back in 1982. Using a genuine 550 Spyder as a template, Beck’s cars were almost exact replicas of the curvy originals – save for a few tweaks here and there to accommodate more modern running gear and safety equipment.

Originally powered by air-cooled VW flat-fours, the 550 replicas proved hugely popular; so much so that by 1987 production would be handed over to Brazilian company Chamonix Cars. Well over 1000 customers from all over the world have since fallen for the Spyder’s unique blend of old-school appeal and modern-day reliability. Since then the Beck Spyders have morphed with the arrival of Subaru flat four, fuel injected, water-cooled boxer engines adding to the modern-day technology and offering increased performance.
One such Porsche enthusiast to be turned on by the 550’s retro chic was Melbourne enthusiast John Benson. Well versed in Porsche’s pedigree and racing history, Benson started to do some digging and quickly discovered that the Beck 550 Spyder was broadly considered to be the best replicas around.
After previously owning a string early model 356s and 911s as well as a number of Historic Formula Fords, John turned to the early model perennial Porsche favourite the 550S Spyder. Benson was in the USA and visited the Special Edition Inc factory in Bremen Indiana which set him on the unlikely path to becoming the proud owner of the lovely blue Beck 550S Spyder.

“I just love this fantastic little 550S Spyder, no wonder James Dean fell in love with them!” chuckles Benson. “They are very attractive full-on, very open and sit low to the ground and run on the period skinny 15” tyres. “You would swear the Subaru engine was designed for this chassis. The 2.5 litre mid-mounted flat-four water-cooled engine with the rear-mounted 4-speed close ratio gearbox is like a Formula Ford with a little more body work with a nice increase in horsepower and torque.”

If you lift the front bonnet, it’s no surprise this colourful Beck 550S Spyder is fitted with a Davies Craig 14” High Performance Thermatic Fan and a EWP150 Electric Water Pump coupled to the alloy radiator. A EWP/Fan Digital Controller complements the engine’s cooling system and is mounted on a fold-away hinge in the cockpit.


Swing open the rear deck and the reason for Benson’s enthusiasm becomes instantly apparent: the beautifully powder-coated steel tube chassis really does look like it was designed around the Subaru boxer engine. There simply isn’t an inch of wasted space.

It’s amazing how tidy and well finished this blue 550S Spyder really is! The shut lines and panel gaps in the super-smooth glass fibre bodywork are uniform and neat; the doors and boot lids shut smoothly, while the carpets and leather upholstery boast similar levels of care and craftsmanship. “We nick-named this 550S Spyder ‘The Little Aussie Bastard’ and this is dutifully scrawled across the back of the deck”, Benson concluded.

Pleasingly though, the Spyder is just as impressive to drive as it is to behold. Cabin space appears tight, but with the seat hard up against the bulkhead, there’s still ample room to fit my generous 188cm frame. The steering wheel sits high, but falls comfortably into place. However, with so little room to work with, the pedal box is inevitably offset to the left, but it’s not too pronounced and you soon get used to the slightly skewed driving position.

Give the key a twist and you’ll be rewarded with the gruff bark of a Subaru flat-four boxer engine bursting faithfully into life, before settling into its trademark brassy thrum.

Hook first gear through the slightly rigid ‘old school’ gearbox, engage the nicely weighted 6-paddle Phase 2 Kennedy clutch, and the Spyder takes off cleanly and without fuss. Being a sports car, it’s pleasantly noteworthy just how civilised this 550S behaves!

Unsurprisingly, with just 700kg to lug around, the 121kW flat-four engine proves to be an astonishingly tractable power plant. Its response off the throttle is clean and consistent, no matter what gear or speed, making it a doddle to just amble around. But with a power-to-weight ratio of 168kW/tonne, the 550 Spyder is good for more than just a leisurely Sunday cruise.

Sink the boot in any gear, and the 550S will launch itself at the middle distance with surprising ferocity. It’s seriously quick; so much so that you’ll find yourself bouncing off the rev limiter in every gear until you adjust your senses to keep up with its rampant pace.

BECK 550S SPYDER ~ FAST FACTS
Body: two-seater roadster, fibreglass over tubular steel frame
Weight: 700kg
Engine: Mid-mounted, flat four cylinder EJ25 2.5-litre water-cooled horizontally opposed boxer
Cooling: Davies Craig EWP150 Electric Water Pump, 14” HP Thermatic Fan, EWP/Fan Digital Controller
Transmission: Manual - four-speed close ratio
Drivetrain: Rear-mounted trans-axle, rear-wheel drive
Power/Torque: 121kW/226Nm
Performance: 0-100kmh – 5.7secs (est.) Top speed – 200km/h