Gooding & Co Consigns Barn-Find Porsche 550 to Hampton Court Auction

Here’s one to watch closely.

Gooding & Company has announced the addition of a barn-find Porsche 550 Spyder to its Hampton Court Palace auction, to be held on Saturday, September 3. 

The Porsche 550, s/n 550-0079, has been stored away for nearly 35 years. The car was originally sold to Rita Rampinelli, a Swiss racing driver, but she only kept the car a short time, eventually selling it on to another Swiss racing driver — Heinz Schiller — who used it in European competition. At some point in the 1960s, the car was upgraded with factory RS60 body panels to try to keep it competitive with more modern racing Porsches, and it still wears that bodywork today, alongside other mechanical upgrades that were also added at that time.

The car was at one time owned by F1 driver Jo Siffert, and later Herbert Kuke, who sold it to the consignor’s family in 1982. Since that time, the car’s been out of the public eye, save for two 1980s appearances at the Oldtimer Grand Prix and a historic race at Zolder. Gooding is presenting the car in “as-found” condition — key for any barn-find rarity. The estimate range on the car is £1,250,000 to £1,750,000.

Now, barn-find cars are still hot in the market today, and this one has an awful lot going for it, both in terms of history and in terms of desirability. It’s not often the market brings out long-hidden sports racers as uncommon as a Porsche 550 — 100% stock or not — and that makes this one particularly interesting in terms of value. 

Gooding’s Hampton Court Palace auction will also offer a 1912 Rolls-Royce 40/50 HP Silver Ghost Tourer (£2,500,000 to £3,000,000) a 1965 Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ (£1,000,000 to £1,200,000) and a 1937 Bugatti Type 57C Ventoux (£800,000 to £1,200,000). 

The Hampton Court Auction is a new event for the boutique auction house, but the company’s forays into the UK market have already been lucrative, starting with the $45.1m total achieved in 2020 with the Passion of a Lifetime sale, and following up with several UK-based online events — sales that realized some exceptional results, such as the $3.5m sale of a 1969 Ford GT40 and a $3.7m sale of a 1961 Aston Martin DB4GT. 

“We are delighted to debut this wonderful quartet to our lineup for the London Auction, which is shaping up to offer an incredibly diverse selection of cars that will provide opportunities for collectors interested in all eras and tastes,” said Gooding & Company European Sales Consultant, Joe Twyman. “To have the chance to unveil this Porsche 550 Spyder publicly for the first time in over three decades is especially exciting, and it will be quite an unforgettable experience to witness it seeing the light of day for the first time in a very long while.”

Learn more about the sale here.