On the other hand, the low mass moment of inertia about the vehicle's vertical axis can lead to a sudden, difficult to control rotation of the car.

Ferdinand Porsche had pioneered this design layout with the Auto Union Grand Prix car of the 1930s.

In fact, former German Formula One racer Hans Herrmann drove it under closed railroad crossing gates during the 1954 Mille Miglia.

The silver Werke cars were painted with spears of different colors on the rear fenders to aid recognition from the pits.

For such a limited number of 90 prototype and customer builds, the 550 Spyder was always in a winning position, usually finishing in the top three results in its class.

The 1956 version, the 550A with a lighter and more rigid spaceframe chassis, gave Porsche its first overall win in a major sports car racing event, the 1956 Targa Florio.

One 550 was purchased by Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito for Milivoje Božić, with which he finished third in the 1000-km Supercortemaggiore Grand Prix at Monza Circuit with only one set of tyres in 1958 before winning his class in the 1960 European Hill Climb Championship; the car was sold to Prada in 1961.

On some 550s owned by privateers, a crude hand written number scrawled in house paint usually served the purpose.

[16] A contemporary of Dean, the rising actor Tom Pittman also died prematurely when he crashed his Spyder over a cliff in 1958.