By Luke Gilmore
MAAP Brings Two Rare Porsches
A 1961 Porsche 356B Super 90 with an extremely rare electric sunroof option and a 1957 Porsche 550A Spyder that raced in Le Mans. Going to Amelia Island Concours is one of the best parts of working at MAAP. It shows off what MAAP is truly all about: restoring Porsches to the highest quality and giving students a chance to work on these amazing cars.
1958 Porsche 550A Spyder Full of Racing History
The name “spyder” comes from the coach-making term for lightweight open carriage vehicles. It weighs only 1,170 pounds. Powered by a four-cam, flat-four engine, the 550 was known as the “giant killer” for beating rivals like Ferrari and Aston Martin. The 550 is a tiny car that had huge success. This one, in particular, was raced in the 1958 Le Mans by Carel Godin de Beaufort, winning third place in its class and 5th place overall.
It was raced in four world championship races in 1958. Beaufort was a very successful Dutch racecar driver from the Netherlands. He raced the 550 at the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort. This car is the only 550 to be in a Grand Prix race. A couple of Beaufort’s achievements include winning 1st in class at the Nurburgring 1000KM and the 12 Hours of Reims in the 550. It also participated in the Mille Miglia ten times!
A Legacy on Wheels
Out of the 46 Porsche 550A’s produced, this was the second to last to be made. Beaufort sold the car in 1960 to Eglinton Caledonia Motors in Toronto where it was raced by Jim Muzzin and Peter Ryan. The car was then sold to Warren Eads in California in 1967, who owned it until 1989 when it was shipped off the Europe. Under the ownership of Bruno Ferracin in 2002, the 550 was raced in the Mille Miglia. Quoted from Bonham’s Auctions, “This is one of the most iconic and important Porsches ever produced”.
One-of-One
How much more rare can a 356 get? The Porsche 356 Super 90 that MAAP is bringing is a 1-of-1 configuration. A frustrated customer at Brumos Porsche wanted an allocation for a Carrera, but Porsche stopped production. The next best thing to order was the Super 90. The car was delivered with an extremely rare pre-production sunroof and a full luggage set.
This is the only Super 90 with a prototype electric sunroof. The prototype motors were fairly heavy. Eventually, Porsche made new motors for sunroofs that were much lighter for the 356 production line. It’s not often that you come by a 356 as rare as this. Over the past four years, MAAP has rebuilt this car from the ground up. We’re so excited to have the opportunity to show this spectacular project off to the public. Catch us at Amelia Island Concours on March 9th! If you would like to see photos from previous years at Concours, click here. We hope to see you there!