Yes, Photo #2 and the group of 4 in Photo #3 were indeed taken at RR III. I shot over 1000 images during 3 glorious days in Florida and intend to use them liberally as a source of subjects for future daily posts. Never before had I seen such an absolutely jaw-dropping collection of Porsches in one place........both in quality and variety.
The '53 550 LeMans Coupe shown in 4 views as part of Photo #3 is , as David states, currently part of the Collier Collection. Interesting History behind that little car. That was the time that Porsche decided they needed a race winner to publicize their new car, the VW based 356. The decision was to build a specialized car, but based on the Gloeckler Roadster with the reversed powertrain, i.e. a mid-engined design ( tell me that decision isn't material for one Hell of a discussion of just why Ferry felt their road cars had to be rear-engined ). Naturally, in order to make the biggest splash, Porsche felt they had to succeed at Lemans, and for that specific purpose commissioned two of these cars ( 550-01 & 02 ) as aerodynamic coupes as it was expected they would posses superior speed on the longer, faster tracks. They were immediately quite dominant in the 1100 to 1500cc class, winning several important events. A third car was planned from the beginning, but was to be equipped with Ernst Fuhrman's brand-new four-cam motor when it became available. It was an immediate race winner.
In '53 the 2 coupes were entered in the Carrera Panamericana. One retired due to mechanical failure, and the other one won its class, but after the race both machines simply disappeared. Seems to have been a fairly common occurrence back in those days, since start-up car makers like Porsche and Ferrari didn't have the recsources to hire cargo planes to take their teams around the world and relied on local contacts to return their race cars. Ferrari & Maserati also "lost" several of their race cars the same way after big international races, not surprisingly most often in Central and South America.
After the '53 Carrera the two little Coupes were never seen again until mysteriously, several years ago, #02 re-surfaced. I can't remember all the details, but do recall that Cavaglieri Restorations got the call to restore the car to its pristine, original state, including all the graphics. If I further recall correctly, Excellence magazine ran a very comprehensive article including history, covering the recreation / restoration with lots of commentary and explanation of the what, why and how by Cavaglieri, since it was really more a matter of recreating much of the car based on original factory documents, rather than a conventional restoration........ sorry, I'm unable to provide the number and date of the issue. Also explains the remarkable condition of the almost 60 year old car. I'm pretty sure the restored car was debuted at the '98 Monterey Historics which, as many here recall so fondly, honored Porsche's 50th anniversary as a manufacturer.
I also know there are many books about Porsche and specifically their early History, which talk about the 550 Lemans Coupes. I personally think they are one of Porsche's most attractive & pure designs.
David, where did you find the "Classic 911" issue, please.........would love to get it.
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