This $94,000 Porsche 550 Replica Is Too Small For The Road

Porsche’s electric Boxster is still waiting in the wings, but there’s already a brand-new electric Porsche sports car you can buy for less than $100,000. There’s just one small problem: you can’t actually drive it on the road. Hedley Studios has built an electric miniature version of one of Porsche’s most famous racers, and it costs £69,500 ($93,800) before taxes and customization.

The company calls it the 550J. Hedley Studios previously operated as the Little Car Company, building electric scale replicas of classic Aston Martin, Ferrari, Bugatti, and Bentley models.

For the 550J, the company worked with Porsche and used original technical drawings and specifications from the automaker’s archives.

The inspiration comes from the Porsche 550, produced between 1953 and 1956. The little sports car became famous both on the racetrack and in popular culture as James Dean’s final car. Its 1,213-lb (550-kg) weight helped it compete against much larger machinery, while its 1.5-liter boxer engine produced between 109 and 133 hp (110-135 PS). The 550 scored victories at events including Le Mans, the Mille Miglia, and the Carrera Panamericana. Porsche built only 90 examples, and surviving cars can now sell for $1.5 million to $5 million depending on their racing history.

Hedley based the 550J on the later 550 A, which arrived in 1956 and replaced the original ladder frame with a stronger steel spaceframe. The miniature car weighs 728 lbs and uses a carbon-fiber body instead of the aluminum body found on the original. There’s also no four-cam Fuhrmann engine behind the driver. An electric motor takes its place behind the seats.

The standard motor produces 11 hp and gives the 550J a top speed of 40 mph. Buyers can add the RS Pack, which doubles output to 22 hp and raises the top speed to 50 mph.The package also adds drilled brake discs and adjustable Bilstein dampers. It increases the claimed range from 30 miles to 50 miles.

The strange part is that you can’t use any of that performance on public roads. The 550J isn’t road legal, making it more of a high-end collector’s toy than an alternative to a normal sports car. Hedley still plans to build 250 examples, each starting at £69,500 ($93,800) before taxes and personalization. Owners can choose period-style liveries and paint-to-sample colors, just as Porsche customers can with its full-size cars.

For most people, spending almost $94,000 on a miniature car that can’t leave private property would be hard to justify. But this isn’t really aimed at most people. Someone wealthy enough to own a genuine Porsche 550 can put one of these in the garage next to it and still have room for a new electric Boxster when it arrives.