Built from a right hand drive donor Porsche 914 and registered as a Porsche in 1973 on the V5 this is the most faithful Porsche 550 replica ever produced.  They were made in very small numbers and are no longer available and anyone wanting a rhd 550 Spyder should seriously consider this car!

All components were new or fully reconditioned when the car was built, there is a nice photographic record of the build along with technical info, and it has covered less than 15,000 miles since.

Engine

A Porsche type 4 with 103mm barrels, JE pistons, 71mm crank giving 2366cc and an unstressed 140bhp.  Lightened flywheel with Sachs power clutch, crank and flywheel dynamically balanced, the con rods are balanced end to end and the pistons statically, remote oil cooler, Webcam 86B camshaft, new lifters, Engle dual valve springs, chromoly retainers and Porsche swivel foot adjusters are fitted.

The cylinder heads have 44mm inlet and 38mm exhaust stainless steel valves and the compression ratio is 8.5:1.  The carbs are twin 45mm DRLA Dellortos on BAS short stack manifolds.  Cooling is via a Hall horizontal fan kit and there's a Porsche 75amp alternator and a Bosch 009 distributor .

The gearbox is a 5 speed dog leg 1st 901 with the later type side shifter.

Chassis

This is not built from the floor pan of a mass produced saloon, perhaps one not even the correct length, it is closely faithful to the original with a multi-tubular tig-welded chassis with double unequal length wishbones and coil over shock absorbers at the front.  At the rear is a De Dion tube rear axle, located by four radius arms and a panhard rod coupled to two coil over shock absorbers.  The shock absorbers are 22 position items with adjustable platforms, the steering rack is a “quick rack”, Porsche 944 disc brakes at the front, drums on the rear and there is a cockpit mounted brake bias valve.

The wheels are 16” x 6” polished Fuchs items with good Falken tyres and there is a bolt on roll hoop which we have removed but is supplied with car.

Body

This is millimetre faithful to the original but made in high quality glass fibre rather than the delicate aluminium of the 1950s icon.  Painted in Porsche silver (what else?) there is a rare drivers helmet fairing fitted to the rear deck that can be removed if wanted and the car comes with a tonneau cover.

The interior is equipped with simple leather bucket seats, a wood rim Moto-Lita steering wheel, and harnesses.

Having been dealers of the Chamonix Spyder 550 which uses Beetle suspension, engine and gear box, we can confirm that this car is technically far superior featuring genuine Porsche underpinnings rather than those of the humble Beetle.

A Chamonix Spyder will cost you over £20,000 for a four speed 70 bhp Beetle powered car, nice cars indeed but not in the same league as this!