A superb and rare photo taken before the 1956 edition of the Targa Florio road race. Shown is the Porsche 550 RS Spyder.

The Porsche 550 Spyder was inspired by the smaller Porsche 356 Spyder which was created and raced by Walter Glöckler in 1951. The Porsche factory specifically designed to build the 550 Spyder in car racing. The 550 was designed as a very low and aerodynamically efficient car. It was so low that former German Formula One racer Hans Herrmann drove it under closed railroad crossing gates during the 1954 Mille Miglia. The 550 became known as Spyder or RS, 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 well known as the car in which James Dean died. Interestingly, the 550 is amongst 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. Some of the companies that make replicas are Boulder Speedster, Chuck Beck Motorsports, Automotive Legends, Chamonix do Brasil, Thunder Ranch, and Vintage Spyders.

This is a very nice and very rare photo that reflects a wonderful era of Porsche ‘s automotive history in a wonderful way.  This is your rare chance to own this photo, therefore it is printed in a nice large format of ca. 8" x 11" (ca. 20 x 27 cm).  It makes it perfectly suitable for framing.