Spyder 550 550A

[Porschinelle]

[Porschinelle]

Fot those who do not read French the big title says : killed at the wheel as her husband (who indeed killed himself in a car crash on the Paris Lyon road six months before Annie's accident

[Steve Heinrichs]

Guys,

Lots of good stuff here and very busy day here in Monterey. I do not have my race list stuff with me and asked that it be sent so I may haveone more comment later today.

Let's see if we can put to bed one more thing---the 07/043 issue. Note that there are two plates on the proto cars and three on the production ones---all had frame plate, all had a Porsche plate and the Wendler cars had a Wendler plate.

043 was a frame---never a car. There was only a frame plate. One can argue that Porsche put the 07 over the 043 little frame plate for customs....but customs would have looked at the Porsche plate (no Wendler plate). Anyway, from Porsche's point of view---this "repair" from the earlier Annie accident involved a new frame and fixing wrecked panels, etc. ---again re-configuring the car----car 07. If, as earlier argued as to 550-0020...if that frame got new body panels (0079 for example)...the car is still 550-0020. Many cars were rebodied. In this case---like in other situations---see the book---the 07 car got a new frame. It is still 07 and there was no 043. A frame higher than 090 was used to repair a much earlier car. That did not make a 550-009x later than the last 0090.

Moving on---

Car 07 was the most reconfigured/rearranged car of the lot. It started as a Bucklewagen, got reconfigured without it (and likely looking like 05as well in terms of the rear), went to Vieullet (sorry)raced, raced by Annie, wrecked and she in hospital, repaired (brought in specifically by her mother), reconfigured with 043 frame, wrecked in the fatal accident, re-done again for Blendl, burned, etc.

A fun ride.

Now---pending some more race clarification, we are still left with---which car went to Brazil in 1-54???
I suggest that there are no other possibilities. Which car did Stuck "sell"??? Only 05 works at all.
Did it comeback to sit next to 0018 in December 1954 (when it was finished). I do not think so. If so, which other 550 went down for many other races???

There is no evidence that 05 was ever a test vehicle.
If it did not race---how are all these now suppossed photos of Annie at races with 05?

If 05 never went to Brazil or quickly came back as a test car----we need to find two more 550s in 1954 and through 1957 and later to fill the gaps. There are none as all are accounted for.

Steve Heinrichs

[Type550]

Yes Steve - it is a fun ride... It is 2.30am here and I really should be asleep

Wendler badges had no true value as they were incorrect anyway - up until the second build batch they didn't even match the chassis number being 2 numbers behind and they were 3 digit not 4.

This is the Wendler plate for 550-0016 - 550-014



Same with 550-0039 - 550-037



Spyders had identification in 3 places - a number plate welded to the chassis, an ID plate riveted in the wheel well and a Wendler plate either next to the fuse box on the other wheel well (earlier models) or next to the battery in the front.

With Annie's car only one ID would be sufficient for Customs. There might not have been a riveted Porsche plate and they wouldn't have found the Wendler plate in the front which would have been a different number anyway. There is no reason why the Wendler plate did not say 550-041

I have not done the research as to what cars went to Brazil so I can't comment, but I can't see how 550-05 did and be in the photos, and I can't see why 550-0043 can't be a complete car as it was not 550-07 except for the plate.

[Type550]

... and yes, the Spyder at the rear in the photo is highly likely 550-15 which had been reconfigured with Wendler body parts for the 1955 Mille Miglia - good pick up!

[Steve Heinrichs]

Andrew, I did not comment on value of Wendler plates or number differences...yrs, two, except one case. Anyway, there would be no Wendler plate on this car. The point is not customs or whatever in terms of rebuild. What counts only is that Porsche made an 07. Porsche never thought they made an 043.

The 05 question cannot be solved by photos and not
and not considering races.

Steve

[Blechquäler]

That the factory "repaired" 07 with a new frame 0043 will fit together with the story that Otto sold the bare frame of 07 later-on.
He probably could buy it as scrap from the factory?

Then I found an old notice from the early 90's that say 07-Warren Eads?

[Steve Heinrichs]

Otto sold the 07/043 frame. The actual 07 frame was/is long gone.

Steve Heinrichs

[Type550]

Steve,

I remember you saying on the Samba forum that Karl got it wrong and this is a photo of 550-06, not 550-07



Everything I have read says this is 550-07 at the Brussels Salon in Jan 1954



Obviously not, as it is the same car...

If 550-06 had the Buckle removed and then displayed at the Paris show in 1954, you can see it was fitted with the new hinged rear used on the later LeMans cars etc



So once again, this car of Annie's is 550-05 as it has the unique rear and Porsche was evolving its design to the new hinge back on all cars, so why would they put the fixed back similar to 05 on 07? (and does 550-07 actually exist at all? - this 06 / 07 switch leaves me with no photos of 07...)

Wendler did not body the early prototypes, it was Weinsberg who bodied 03 to 08, and Weinsberg built all the frames (including the customer spyder frames) which were used by Wendler.

There is no doubt these are 2 totally different cars, one built by Weinsberg - 550-05 on 550-05 frame -



550-0043 built by Wendler (see the teardrop badges on the front fenders) on 550-0043 frame. It is highly likely that there is a Wendler build plate on the car indicating what body it is. This is not a repair of 550-05 or 550-07

[Type550]

Gerard, I have a similar photo as that, but I cannot read the text on it either - it might confirm a few things...

Just found it and ordered it off ebay...

[Steve Heinrichs]

Andrew/Guys
I think we are close to the end of the value added discussion. Allow me please to recap my point of view--

05---was a car. Very original photos exist. According to factory documents and factory studies---it went to Brazil. See my several posts.

06---I hate to bring this up but it now has been brought in. It was a Bucklewagen. Reconfigured without...and had hinged rear. At show then to Hoffman (I have export stuff). It did not go to Carrera Panamericana. NY Autoshow, then von Neumann.

07---Bucklewagen. Also reconfigured three times. First likely rear as 05....later as a regular Wendler one. Was the car Annie had fatal accident in. You have seen the posts. Was "real".

0043---we can all call this a real car but Porsche did not and there are ZERO records calling 043 real. Whatever it was, Porsche continued to call it 07 INCLUDING through the sale to Blendl.

Weinsburg/Wendler bodies---Weinsburg created them all through 015 although 015 had much Wendler stuff.

As to frames---Weinsburg did not build ALL for 550s. Rather, they actually built through 042. 043 was the first Wendler frame.

Last...really---to sort this requires not just a photo review but an analysis of all the races, pilots, etc. It takes triangulation and the willingness to believe that 06 did not go to Mexico---that was 013. You may ask what that has to do with anything as to 05 or 07----it is because all of this links together in very difficult ways.

Book goes to printer tomorrow.

Steve Heinrichs

[Type550]

Pity the presses await as I think there are many things unanswered and unclear. I sincerely understand the research process to get to this point and I am eager to see all these photos and data you are publishing in the book to confirm your findings...

[JOP]

Otto sold the 07/043 frame. The actual 07 frame was/is long gone.

Steve Heinrichs

Are we talking about Otto Mathe?
If sold to whom then? He was known to have a hard time to have to seperate from his toys

A thing that just hit me was the picture I posted of the Alloy " Buckel-Porsche" from Ottos garage that he made in the fifties.

Could that have been built on the. Chassie no 7?
Unfortunatly I did not look at all details on it back in the 90......

Otto did get good stuff from Porsche that he made use of in his various cars.
It is not the first time valued history parts found in his treasures.

Really enjoyed the update of the 550 from you all, THX
/ Per

[Steve Heinrichs]

Andrew, I am quite comfortable with what we have. I will leave it at that.

I am quite done now given your comment.

Steve Heinrichs

[Steve Heinrichs]

One more thing---I will leave the conversation with this:

How did Frau J. Schaffer bring 550-07 with 19633 km to Porsche for repair in April/May 1955??

A free book for the first answer that definitively "solves" the already solved problems.

Steve Heinrichs