| From Jerry
Entin:
"Joe
Playan thinks the (Paramount Ranch) "Porsche Special" is his Porsche
550 Spyder. He wrecked his car at Willow Springs. He subsequently took
the car to Fred Ige, a fellow who was supposed to be able to fix aluminum
bodies. He had a business, I believe, that was called Samo wheel alignment.
He had the car for 6 months and nothing was getting done.
Joe took the car to Ernie
McAfee on Sunset. Tom Bamford was the service manager. They had a guy by
the last name of Carrel who worked on Ferraris and Maseratis. Joe asked
him if he could get the car back together and running. He made that front
end for Joe. He told Joe that the James Dean car was there and that he
had used a few pieces off it to make Joe's new front end. Joe sold the
car to Stan Sugarman, from Arizona.
That is Joe at Paramount
Ranch. This was the first time he had driven in more than a year. In the
race Jay Hills crashed into the back of Joe. He was in a Porsche Speedster,
Joe believes."
Ron Cummings on the two
Porsche Specials:
"The Porsche Special,
top photo, has nothing to do with the Paramount Ranch photo. The Special
in the upper photo belongs to a friend of mine. It came from the midwest
and doesn't have a Porsche frame.
The Paramount Ranch photo
could very well be Joe's first Spyder after the rebuild. However,
that car is listed in the race program, March 1957, as John Porter's 550
Spyder. But Porter's car never looked like that. It was always
a near-concours car. I don't think that the Paramount Ranch car is Porter's
and may be, like you say, Joe's car. Could this have been a different Paramount
Ranch date?"
Back to: Mystery
Cars -- 1
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