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1958 550A
Steve Terrien
 This is Porsche 550A-141, which I am currently having restored. The one vintage picture I have of the car shows the driver Ernst Vogel next to the car at the Gaisburg Hill Climb Race in August of 1958. This picture was sent to me by Dr. Helmut Eggert of Porsche Salzburg. I should also say, that my intent is not to show off or "look at what I got", rather this is a way for me to share the cars with others. I do drive all my cars to events or to the grocery store. Today we find ourselves with unique examples of car history, which comes with the responsibility to share with others. It is too often many of the unique examples become part of private collections that are never seen or heard from again. This is the real tragedy. [Click on any photo to view all the images on this page, and more, at full size]
Porsche 550A-141 was constructed at Zuffenhousen and delivered to the Piech family, Porsche Salzburg, in March 1958. The car had many documented racing victories that year with driver Ernst Vogel, and under race manager Herbert Kaes, Ferdinand Porsche's nephew. Ernst was the Austrian Hill Climb Champion that year in 141. (View a scan of a letter from Herbert Kaes, in German). November 12th, 1958 E. Vogel attempted a speed record attempt in 141 on the autobahn;
"Flying" Start 1 km. One Way 213,018 km., return 223,464 km., Average 218,182. [Note: American readers should substitute decimal points for the commas in those figures]
During the 1958 race year Kaes and Vogel were competing against the more competitive RSK's and in 1959 Kaes returned the car to Porsche for the latest RSK model. 141 was then re-furbished by Porsche and sold to Harry Blanchard of Connecticut. Harry had two wins in 141 in 1959 at Bridgehampton, at the SCCA National Marlboro, and a second place finish at Watkins Glen. It is of interestt that he beat Bruce Jennings in each of these races, and with Jennings driving a 550A at Bridgehampton. Blanchard was killed in January 1960 in Buenos Aires where he had been invited to drive a factory RSK.
The car was then sold by the estate to Miller Gripley, who again had several wins but broke a half shaft at Dunkirk, N.Y. and sold the car at the track to Chuck Stoddard. Chuck raced the car for two years when it was sold again to Joel Neshkin of Birmingham, AL., a very successful SCCA driver. Joel raced the car into the early 70's. Joel said the car was still competitive and he enjoyed driving it very much. It was in the early 70's that Joel was involved in a bad accident with a Corvette who lost his brakes and slammed into 141. While stored in a basement a fire destroyed the front section of the car. Joel later mounted a "D" Sports Racer fiberglass body on the chassis and continued to race.
The car then traded hands several times until it landed in Oakland, California, in the early 80's. I had been looking for a 550A for some time but nothing seemed to be available until one day I received a call from an old friend in Santa Clara who told me to get on a plane as there were two 550A's in his area for sale. I did and was introduced to two Spyders that day, 141 and 145. 141 came with most of the original parts, including the rear portion of the body. I purchased 141 and began the restoration!
 Today the car is near completion with Bill Doyle doing all the mechanicals on the car. The engine is the last and of course the most expensive part of the restoration. Bill has been most patient with me over the years as I have never had large $$ to through at the project. Soon I hope to share finished pictures of the car, but I never get too anxious as this is truly a work in progress and once completed should be an excellent example of a historic racing car worth waiting for!
Steve Terrien
Issaquah, WA.
Member Number 3517
[Click on any photo to view all the images at full size]
 
 
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