Porsche RSK Spyder Replica

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By the time James Dean fatally smashed his beloved ‘Little Bastard’ into Donald Turnupseed’s 1950 Ford Custom at California's Cholame Junction on Highway 41 on 30th September 1955, the Porsche 550 Spyder was already a legend in its own right.

Winning its very first race at the Nurburgring in May 1953, the 550 went on become a famous giant slayer, defeating larger and far more powerful cars in race after race from the Targa Florio and the Carrera Panamericana to Sebring and Le Mans. Powered by a rear-mounted 110bhp 1.5-litre air-cooled flat-four, it was the Stuttgart firm's first bespoke racing car, its iconic status being cemented by the fact that just 90 were built between 1953 and 1956.

In 1957 it was further developed into the 718 RSK which now put 142bhp at the driver’s disposal. Weighing just 530kg and slippery as a bar of soap, it had a top speed of 155mph. Just 35 were made and the last one sold made over £2.1m at auction last year.

This isn't one of them. Instead this is a replica and therefore we are aren’t expecting you to stump up a couple of million quid to take it home, which has to be good news for all those of you who don’t work in banking or sit on the judging panel at FIFA. However, it is a beautifully executed copy of an original RSK Spyder and has a very similar power-to-weight ratio.

The chassis was professionally built for the vendor in 1999-2000 by GP Projects of Buckinghamshire using a shortened 1967 VW Beetle floor-pan and fitted with high quality GRP bodywork made in their factory. The engine is a Formula Vee race-tuned flat-four air-cooled VW unit bored out to 1,776cc, fitted with twin Dellorto carbs and a sports exhaust and producing in excess of 100bhp. This is mated to an uprated VW 4-speed gearbox, the engine and gearbox together costing some £3,000 at the time and being built by GAC Motorsport of Aylesbury. The interior features bucket seats fitted with Luke racing harnesses and the car rides on 15” steel wheels fitted with a matching set of Goodyear 165/15 tyres.

At the time he first took delivery of the car about 15 years ago, the vendor had also just acquired a new Porsche Boxster 3.2S and vividly recalls how the Spyder would leave the Boxster for dead at speeds up to 70mph on typical English lanes. Due to pressures of work he has barely used the car since then and it has mainly languished in storage in a friend’s barn, the 540 miles on the odometer being absolutely genuine.

Taken out of storage earlier this year, it was recommissioned and submitted for MOT which it passed, the ticket running until June 2016. It remains in good condition throughout and is said to drive well with excellent handling and a good turn of speed when provoked. It certainly flew along and sounded incredible as we chased it down the road on the occasion of our visit to take these pictures.

At the time of cataloguing the vendor could not readily lay his hands on the bills for the car’s construction, but he states that it cost over £15,000 in total. In any case, the car speaks for itself and the quality of the workmanship is not in doubt. It comes with a V5C (which records it as a 1967 GP Spyder), an MOT until June 2016 and a canvas tonneau cover in good condition.

Virtually as fast as the original RSK on which it is based and with a similar power-to-weight ratio, this low-mileage, one-owner, tax exempt sports car is just the kind of thing that any true petrolhead would love have in their toy cupboard and is being offered here at a fraction of the price that it would cost to build a comparable machine today.