A 1957 Porsche 550A Spyder With 25 Race Wins Is Heading to Auction in Monaco

Chassis number 550A-0116 is one of 40 Porsche 550A Spyders ever built, and its provenance reads like a screenplay. Delivered in March 1957 to Jack McAfee’s Porsche dealership in Burbank, California, the car went on to rack up 25 documented race victories across Palm Springs, Riverside, Laguna Seca, Phoenix, and Santa Barbara between June 1957 and 1959. Early bodywork damage led to a modification that makes this example unique among surviving 550As: the rear section was replaced with a hinged, tilting panel sourced from an original RS 550.

The car changed hands across four countries over the following decades (USA, South Africa, Japan, Germany) before taking Best in Class at the 2014 Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance. The current owner acquired it in 2018 at RM Sotheby’s Monterey auction for $4.9 million.

The Restoration

After acquisition, the car went to Andy Prill’s workshop in Essex, England for a six-year overhaul costing GBP 307,000 (roughly $404,000). The body was stripped and repainted, the matching-numbers engine rebuilt, and the gearbox fully reassembled. The engine case is original and matching-numbers, with a factory exchange crankcase sourced from Italy. Prill described the finished car as “box fresh.” Only an initial test drive has been completed since the restoration wrapped.

The spec sheet hasn’t changed since 1957. A 1.5-liter four-cam flat-four producing 135 horsepower in a car weighing roughly 1,200 pounds. Top speed sits around 150 mph. The documentation package includes the factory Type 550A Driver’s Manual, period race photographs, event programs, and original newspaper clippings.

The Auction

RM Sotheby’s will offer the car as Lot 165 at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco on Saturday, April 25, 2026, timed to the Grand Prix de Monaco Historique weekend. The estimate sits between EUR 3.5 and 3.8 million (approximately $4 to $4.4 million), which is actually below the $4.9 million it brought in 2018 before the restoration. That gap suggests either a softening market for 550As or a conservative estimate designed to generate competitive bidding.

Either way, this is one of the most race-proven 550As in existence, freshly restored, with paperwork that traces every victory.