Thursday 16th August 2012

Vintech P550 Tribute

French firm creates a Porsche 550-inspired carbon fibre masterpiece

---

Pebble Beach is kicking off and among the many fabulous cars attending is this interesting homage to the Porsche 550 Spyder from French outfit Vintech. The P550 Tribute, as it's known, will make it's official debut tomorrow at Quail Lodge golf resort at The Quail: A Motorsports Gathering.

The Tribute wears gullwing doors

The P550 Tribute isn't merely a cut and shut GRP replica of the diminutive 1950s Porsche, but a carbon fibre-bodied, gullwing-adorned modern interpretation. Nestled in the middle of the carbon fibre chassis is a 3.0-litre four-cylinder boxer engine, rumoured to boast around 274hp.

Drive is sent through a five-speed manual 'box to the rear wheels, while double wishbone suspension and a reputed kerb weight of less than 1,000kg promise back up the evocative looks with a suitably involving drive. Fit, finish and detailing seems to be beautifully realised, as befitting any serious Pebble Beach contender.

There are worse looking cars...

Vintech specialises in lightweight materials, 3D modelling, engineering and design in the automotive industry. Shareholders in Vintech's parent company - Group D3 - shared collective admiration for the very first 1953 Porsche 550 Spyder and felt compelled to pay tribute "through a coherent stylistic reinterpretation, realised with the best materials and the best technology of the 21st Century.

"What we wanted to do was to keep as much of the character of the original vehicle while accepting to make the indispensable compromises in order to fabricate a completely functional vehicle that could be used according to more modern standards," they say.

Carbon fibre the material of choice

Replicas and retro tributes are not every petrolhead's cuppa, but done right, and without the sacrifice of something rare and irreplaceable, can create a uniquely sought-after model in its own right. Singer is gaining an enthusiastic following with its re-envisaged 911s, while demand is high for a production run of the Ferrari 430 Scuderia-based Lancia Stratos. This Ferrari 250 GTO replica is further proof that copycat machinery can be awfully desirable.

We don't know if many P550 Tributes will be built and, if sold, at what price, but given the green light expect very few, costing a hefty amount. An original 1955 550 Spyder sold for $3.685 million at auction earlier this year, making a P550 Tribute a steal if sold at even a tenth of that figure.

Alternatively just £16,495 will get you into this Porsche 718 RSK Replica advertised in the PistonHeads classifieds. Its humble VW Beetle origins are certainly less exotic than the P550's, but it arguably does the same job. You'd only be a pair of Raybans away from James Dean levels of timeless cool.

[tuffer]

That actually looks pretty cool.

[glm1977]

i like that a lot.... but guessing it aint gona be cheap - shame.

[devnull]

I spy a beetle engine in some of those pics!

[pscl227]

that is one sexy car

just look at those curves!

[Dave Hedgehog]

"there are worse looking cars"

but not that many, it looks squashed front to rear ..

[Amizade]

550 is a lovely car - not sure whether a carbon monocoque suits it or would knock out all the charisma - still think a hand crafted alu spaceframe replica would be sweeter - but this car is really only for the vertically challenged, more so with a lid on it. I have seen a few spyders driven by normal height drivers and it looks like a Noddy car !

ps agree that the front & rear ends look wrong - a recreation of the original Spyder would be my preference

Edited by Amizade on Thursday 16th August 09:14

[V8KSN]

If they could re-skin a Cayman R to look like that I would have one!

[Ollywood]

Is this like the Caparo T1 a look at me see what we can do?

Which was what the T1 one was, an engineering company with a little bit too much money showing off their skills. Although they burnt their hands on that one (literary)

It's pretty, a bit awkward in its height but unless they are going to make it all a bit useless. It would be nice to see coach building tradition come back but I guess with all the legislation they are going to struggle.

[GTRene]

hm, a bit strange but also lovely

I like.

[GTRene]

V8KSN said:

If they could re-skin a Cayman R to look like that I would have one!

there is a company that do re-skin a boxter into a 904...pretty cool too



http://www.topgear.com/uk/photos/porsche-p904-carr...

[BuzzLightyear]

I'll put my head above the parapet and say that as a rule, I really like the "Tributes" and "Hommages" etc: They have the style and panache of classics with contemporary performance and safety. Very IMO

[irocfan]

GTRene said:

V8KSN said:

If they could re-skin a Cayman R to look like that I would have one!

there is a company that do re-skin a boxter into a 904...pretty cool too



http://www.topgear.com/uk/photos/porsche-p904-carr...

wow!! Finally a Porker I would like!!

[rhinochopig]

Love the looks, BUT, 274bhp and that body shape will mean a pretty high top speed. Every modern car I've seen with a similar rear profile has required a small lip spoiler to minimise lift at the rear. Would be interesting to see the CFD model for that body shape.

[LuS1fer]

Looks fabulous but I don't much like the 718 replica in the ads - lacks all the personality of the P550.

[BarbaricAvatar]

Don't really care what's underneath, the Vintech looks really really stupid.
Paint it yellow and red and it might serve a purpose at kids parties as a clown car.

[robsco]

Stunning.

[Big Fat Fatty]

Dave Hedgehog said:

"there are worse looking cars"

but not that many, it looks squashed front to rear ..

The pics look distorted to me, in any case there are thousands of better looking cars that I'd rather see recreations of.

[Razzy Man]

irocfan said:

GTRene said:

V8KSN said:

If they could re-skin a Cayman R to look like that I would have one!

there is a company that do re-skin a boxter into a 904...pretty cool too



http://www.topgear.com/uk/photos/porsche-p904-carr...

wow!! Finally a Porker I would like!!

Agreed that looks absolutely fantastic. You would probably be looking at around £70k ish for that though...
oh well, time to save up!

[domV8]

Hope the seats are a work in progress

[markoc]

If I'd never seen a 550 I'd think this was a very pretty car in it's own right. However it looks cartoonish in comparison to the original, and the proportions seem wrong. I guess that's fair enough though as it is a homage not a copy...

My opinions are inconsequential as I'd never be a prospective customer - but IMO there are far, far worse homages out there.