Putting forth its own unique design vision for one of the world’s most iconic sports cars, French fabrication specialists Vintech unveiled the striking P550 Tribute at "The Quail: A Motorsports Gathering" in conjunction with the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. A superlight, gullwing recasting of the legendary Porsche 550 Spyder and its endurance-racing-oriented 550 Coupe sibiing, the Vintech P550 Tribute is a one-off effort that maintains the purity of form found in the original 50’s-era Porsche — the car in which movie icon James Dean was killed — but adds a host of contemporary touches to give it a 21st century character.
Fully rendered in carbon fiber with light alloy suspension and powertrain components, the P550 Tribute tips the scales at just over 1,200 pounds, about the same as the first 550 Spyder. This Vintech alter-ego packs a new 3.0-liter air-cooled "boxer" four-cylinder engine that cranks out about 270 horsepower and drives the rear wheels through a 5-speed manual transaxle. Orders of magnitude beyond the VW-sourced 1.5-liter/78-horse flat-4 and 4-speed gearbox found in the original Porsche 550s, they promise to give the P550 Tribute 0-60 mph capabilities in the 4.0- to 5.0- second range. More details on the Vintech P550 Tribute are due to be released later this week and more information can be found here.
