This Classic Porsche Spyder Just Sold For A Record $5 Million At Auction

If it seems to you like Porsches keep getting more expensive, that’s because they are. And that goes for both new models and old ones. In fact the classic Porsche you see here just set a new world record.

The vehicle in question is a 1958 Porsche 550A Spyder, which aside from winning its class at Reims in France, Zandvoort in Holland, and the Nürburgring in Germany, also placed second in class at Le Mans (and fifth overall).

This despite a tiny 1.5-liter four-cylinder engine that put out all of 110 horsepower. The Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa that won the French 24-hour race that year packed a V12 twice the size and with nearly three times as much power.

The German automaker made only 40 of these “giant slayers,” leaving them highly sought-after among Porschephiles and classic-car collectors. With so much history behind it, this example set a new world record for the 550A when it sold for $5.17 million at Bonhams’ auction in Scottsdale over the weekend. (Rival auctioneer Gooding & Company sold another 550 Spyder, sans the A, at Amelia Island in 2016 for $5.35m.)

That’s a big figure for a Porsche, whose big Group 6 and Group C prototypes – like the 917 and 956 – have been known to sell for millions, or even tens of millions, on the rare occasion when they come up for auction.

The 550A was the top lot at the Bonhams auction this year, joined by a Ferrari Daytona Spider that sold for $2.64 million, and an F40 and Mercedes 300SL Roadster that each went for $1,512,500. All told, Bonhans sold 87 percent of the lots consigned for a total of over $25 million.