Like Max Verstappen, I’m not a big fan of podcasts. I can’t really concentrate on another task while listening to one, and I generally prefer to jam to music to help the day pass more quickly. There is one podcast, however, that I listen to religiously when I have a long drive. It’s a Porsche-centric show called Spike’s Car Radio and is hosted by Spike Feresten, Paul Zuckerman, and Jonny Lieberman. On a recent episode, Jerry Seinfeld was a guest (he often is due to his friendship with Spike) and mentioned he’d be selling more cars from his collection. Is today’s Good Find Friday feature, a Porsche 550 RS Spyder, one of those cars?

Jerry famously sold a number of cars at Amelia Island in 2018, including a French Blue 1955 Porsche 550 Spyder, a car whose racy aroma I’ve actually inhaled in person at a Porsche 356 Registry Holiday about 20 years ago. That car sold for $5.3 million, a tidy sum.

On that recent podcast, Jerry mentioned he’d be consigning some cars with Cabiglio Garage. Cabiglio Garage is owned by Sam Cabiglio, who famously manages Jerry’s car collection and is considered an expert in all things Porsche. His company brokered the listing for Spike’s Volkswagen Beetle Police Car on Bring a Trailer back in late 2023, which Spike promoted on the podcast. I sure wish I’d bid on that car, as $28K feels like a deal for a Jerry and Spike-owned VW.

The Porsche 550 Spyder is arguably to Porsche what the Silver Arrows are to Mercedes-Benz. The first purpose-built race car constructed by Porsche, the first 550 Spyder left the Porsche werks department in 1953 and won its first race at the Nurburgring. It would go on to class wins at Le Mans, the Carrera Panamericana and more. Its all-aluminum construction and powerful 4-cam engine led to dominant wins and the moniker of “giant killer.”

Only 90 Porsche 550 Spyders were built, which makes keeping track of them fairly easy. 

The 550 RS Spyder on offer at Cabiglio Garage was purchased by Richard Trenkel and raced in Germany, winning 4th overall in his first competition in the car at the Rhine Cup Race. At one time it was owned and raced by Bill Perrone. The price of the car is available on application only. 

Lacking the brake ducts in the front nose often seen on many 550 Spyders, chassis 0041 was originally painted in silver with red “darts” on the rear haunches. Exterior details include a driver’s windscreen, metal passenger tonneau cover, rear view mirror mounted ahead of the cockpit, and intake vents on the rear decklid.

Inside, the car’s lightweight racing bucket seats are upholstered in a bright red, while the rest of the cockpit is unadorned aluminum. An ivory-colored banjo steering wheel is appropriately fixed to the steering column. The gauges are incredibly clean and beautiful.

Loosening the leather straps, releasing the catches with the special key and lifting the rear clamshell will reveal the 4-cam flat-four racing engine. In this case, the engine has been upgraded from its original 1500 spec to a 1700cc RSK displacement engine mated to a 718 4-speed gearbox. These are deviations from original, but the original engine case is apparently included. No word on where the original gearbox might be.

The front trunk on real 550 Spyders is nearly completely occupied by the fuel cell, which features a through-hood filler cap. The battery is mounted just ahead. As a race car, the 550 Spyder offered no real creature comforts, in contrast to the fiberglass replicas which often have carpet, a more spacious trunk, and other conveniences.

So how did we determine this was Jerry’s car? Well, the selling dealer is a huge hint but there are also photographs of Jerry driving this very car during his ownership. Apparently he’s owned and enjoyed this 550 Spyder since 2013. I found a lengthy thread on a website dedicated to fiberglass replica Porsches that originally misidentified this car as a replica. The ensuing discussion was amusing if you have a few minutes to peruse the comments.

It’s anyone’s guess as to whether Jerry has another 550 Spyder lurking in his collection and this one is just superfluous, but he did note in the Spike’s Car Radio episode that he has decided to sell more of the cars he really likes in favor of keeping the cars he really loves. How anyone can merely “really like” a 550 Spyder once they’ve got one is beyond us, but ignorance is bliss I guess.

With no price listed, what do we think this car is worth? With only 90 built, they don’t show up for sale very often. The last time a 550 Spyder sold at auction (excluding the 718-style car that sold in 2022) was at Bonhams’ Amelia Island auction in 2022. That 1955 Porsche 550 sold for $4.2 million. If I had to guess, I’d bet this car has an asking price of at least $4.5 million, perhaps more. 

We wish Jerry the best of luck with his sale. If I had a spare $5M hanging around, I’d snap it up for sure. Have a great weekend, everyone.

Wolf and Mare provides car finding, appraisal and auction services for sellers and buyers of collector European cars. We also provide importation services. Give us a call or drop us a line!