Porsche Spyders 1956 - 1964 - Type 550A, RSK and 718

By: Karl Ludvigsen .

The great success that Porsche enjoyed with its first 550 Spyders spurred its small but effective racing cadre to a more ambitious design with its 1956 Type 550a. A stiffer space frame was inside the 550A that Umberto Maglioli drove single-handed to win the 1956 Targa Florio – hailed at the time as “Porsche’s greatest victory”.

Experiments in ’56 with an even smaller racer, the Type 645, ended with a disastrous crash. Not for nothing was it nicknamed “Mickey Mouse”. In 1957 Porsche created the immortal RSK, a race and hill climb winner. The RS60 arrived in 1960 to meet new rules, winning Sebring outright. It evolved into the RS61 and then the Type 718, using the Grand Prix eight-cylinder engine.

Races and hill climbs throughout the world were mastered by these agile silver cars through 1964. See them all depicted in magnificent images from the Ludvigsen Library.

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