James Dean called his 550 Spyder “Little Bastard.” He was not wrong about the car. The original 550 was light, fast, and unforgiving – a machine built for people who understood exactly what they were asking of it. Dean did not survive his. The story has attached itself to the 550 ever since, which is part of why the model sits where it does in Porsche mythology.
But the car that matters here is not the original 550. It is the refined evolution that Porsche built in the years after Dean’s death – the 550A, improved in almost every structural respect and produced in a run of just 40 examples. Chassis 550A-0116 is one of them, and it is heading to RM Sotheby’s Monaco sale on April 25 with a pre-sale estimate of between €3.5 and €3.8 million – a figure that, given this car’s specific provenance, may well prove conservative.
Dispensing with the ladder chassis of the original in favour of a lighter and more rigid spaceframe, the 550A also received upgraded suspension and brakes, along with an improved version of the 135 horsepower 1.5-litre four-cam flat-four engine. The hand-formed aerodynamic bodywork was produced by Karosserie Wendler, the same coachbuilder that shaped the original 550. Overall weight came in at approximately 1,200 pounds – a figure that made the 135 horsepower feel considerably more potent than it looked on paper and pushed the top speed to nearly 150 mph.
The history of chassis 550A-0116 is documented with a precision that is genuinely unusual in vintage Porsche collecting, beginning with a remarkable primary source. Herbert Linge – the first mechanic Porsche employed after its factory moved to Stuttgart, and later a racing driver of considerable distinction – kept handwritten records of every 550A built. According to those notes, this example was completed on 18 February 1957 and delivered to Jack McAfee’s Porsche dealership in Burbank, California on 4 March.
McAfee was not a casual enthusiast. He was one of the most capable sports car drivers in California at a time when American road racing was producing a generation of genuinely quick drivers. He had already won the 1956 SCCA Modified F Class championship aboard an earlier 550, recognising before most of his contemporaries that Porsche’s lightweight philosophy had identified something Ferrari and the British constructors had not yet fully grasped. The 550A made its competitive debut at Paramount Ranch Racetrack on 15 June 1957, where McAfee scored two outright wins on the second day alone. What followed was one of the most consistent regional racing records in the SCCA’s California calendar – victories at Palm Springs, Riverside, Pomona, Laguna Seca, Phoenix, Santa Barbara, and beyond, accumulating to more than 25 documented wins across two seasons of competition.
One detail from that racing career sets this specific car apart from every other 550A. Early in its competitive life, McAfee reportedly damaged the rear bodywork badly enough to require replacement. Rather than fitting the standard 550A fixed rear section, he had it replaced with a hinged, tilting unit borrowed from the original RS 550 – a modification he preferred for easier engine access. That quirk was preserved through the most recent restoration. It is the kind of detail that matters not just as a historical note but as physical evidence of the car’s actual use.
After leaving California competition in 1959, the car passed through a series of owners across multiple continents – spending time in South Africa, returning to the United States under the custodianship of race team owner and two-time Le Mans class winner Dick Barbour, then moving to Japan with collector Hui Takahara before being sent to Germany for restoration by championship-winning Porsche specialists Freisinger Motorsport. It returned to the United States in 2013, was exhibited at the 2014 Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance where it won Best in Class for post-war race cars built before 1965, and was acquired by the current vendor in August 2018.
That acquisition was followed immediately by a decision that reflects either considerable confidence in the car’s long-term value or genuine commitment to doing the job properly – or both. In August 2019, the 550A was dispatched to Andy Prill in Essex, one of the most respected Porsche restoration specialists in Britain, for what would become a six-year, nut-and-bolt overhaul. The bodywork was stripped to bare metal and repainted. The engine was rebuilt around a factory exchange crankcase sourced from Italy. The matching-numbers gearbox was completely reassembled. Invoices on file total more than £307,000. The matching-numbers original engine case accompanies the sale. Prill describes the result as box-fresh – a term rarely applied to a 68-year-old racing car, and in this case apparently entirely warranted.
When this same car last crossed the block at RM Sotheby’s Monterey in 2018, it fetched $4.9 million – and that was before the restoration. The Monaco estimate of €3.5 to €3.8 million reflects a market that has softened somewhat since 2018, but also a car that is now in demonstrably superior condition. RM Sotheby’s global director of private sales Harvey Stanley has described it as the holy grail of 550A Spyders and a key piece of Porsche’s American racing history. Neither description is an overstatement. Also be sure ot check our list of the fastest cars in the world.
