Charter member Craig Alexander sent this email to Bruce Boeder a month or so ago and I am just getting around to posting it now. The 550 Spyder Craig refers to was sold to Bill Groschen who had it for a couple of years and he sold it to a Japanese collector.
Bruce, In about 1969 I was up at Donnybrook for a Porsche event. The guy who had the 550 was trying it out on the track and he mentioned that he wanted to sell it. I could see that the 550 was all original except for the tail lights and VW motor. I had restored several cars and knew the importance of an all original car. The next week I went out to his home where he had a Ferrari and the 550. He was working on both cars with an actual Crescent wrench. I knew that he would ruin both cars with his horrible mechanical talent. He sold it to me for $1800.00. I used the VW engine until I found a Porsche four cam engine that was just right for the 550. I mailed my $900.00 out to California and low and behold showed up at my door step in a sturdy wooden crate. I had Phil Kalwiet repair the dents and repaint the 550. Phil was an artist with aluminum. He could repair the dent, heat and shrink the aluminum with out using Bondo and give it a flawless paint job. I kept the 550 in the living room of my earth sheltered home in Woodbury for ten years It was quite a hit for people at parties to see an actual racing car in my home. Most of my friends, including the women thought that it looked just right sitting in the edge of the living room. As I got older my reaction time is slower and it was a difficult car to keep in good tune unless it was used on the track. It had a six volt battery which had to be fully charged to start the engine. I would coast down my driveway and with help from the starter could usually get it started. But if I stalled driving around Lake Harriet I would have to get pedestrians to push me to get me started.
