Porsche 550

The Porsche 550 is a mid-engined racing sports car that Porsche produced from 1953 until 1956, with only 90 built. It was powered by the air-cooled four-cylinder Type 547 boxer engine, called the Fuhrmann engine, in a rear mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout that followed the 1948 356/1 prototype of Ferry Porsche. The 550 Spyder was introduced at the 1953 Paris Auto Show, won its first race at the Nürburgring Eifel Race in May 1953 and took class wins at Le Mans and in the Carrera Panamericana, a victory commemorated in the Carrera name. The lighter 550A gave Porsche its first overall win in a major sports car event, the 1956 Targa Florio. The 718 succeeded it, and a 1958 550A Spyder sold at auction in 2018 for 5,170,000 dollars.