Porsche Spyders 1956-1964: Type 550A, RSK and 718 (Ludvigsen Library)

The great success that Porsche enjoyed with its first 550 Spyders spurred its small but effective racing cadre to a more ambitious design with its 1956 Type 550A. It's stiffer space frame was inside the 550A that Umberto Maglioli drove single-handed to win the 1956 Targa Florio -- Porsches greatest victory yet.

Experiments in 56 with an even smaller racer, the Type 645, ended with a disastrous crash. Not for nothing was it nicknamed "Mickey Mouse". In 1957 Porsche created the immortal RSK, a race and hillclimb winner. The RS60 arrives in 1960 to meet new rules, winning Sebring outright. It evolved into the RS61 and then the Type 718, using the Grand Prix eight-cylinder engine. Races and hillclimbs throughout the world were mastered by these agile silver cars through 1964, depicted in magnificent images from the Ludvigsen Library.