A story of the 550-0082

[Olivier Lory]

Is anyone from the club going to the Bonhams auction in Knokke this week and have the possibility to have a look at the different classic cars which will be presented during the auction?
I should attend by the end of the week, the goal of my visit will be the Apal 550 0082 or if others prefer, the "Porsche" 550 0082.

The crux of the matter lies in determining the events that transpired following Mr. Michaelis's purchase of the Apal. He expressed regret at selling the vehicle after discovering it was destined for Italy to be disassembled. It appears that no documentation of the sale between driver Bonvoisin and Michaelis exists. There may still be a piece or two of evidence in the folder being sold together: the original bill of sale between Michaelis and Jeghers and after that between Jeghers and Cupelini; that made it possible to register the new car as a Porsche in Italy and after to come back to Germany with a brand new registration.

Folder with interesting documentation?

Capture d’écran 2024-10-01 182414.png (240.38 KiB) Viewed 104 times

As a reminder, this wrecked car was purchased by the driver Bonvoisin in the early 1960s with the intention of grafting a new body onto it. Edmond Pery promptly prepared the new body for the upcoming rally season. The original body, which had already been involved in accidents and modifications, was discarded as fill material for the construction of Apal's new warehouse. The four-cam engine and gearbox were no longer present. In fact, as Messrs. Rolf Sprenger and Steve Heinrichs have correctly pointed out in their 2014 bible 'PORSCHE CARRERA', only the chassis remains. The only surviving protagonist who could recall this story is Mr. Bruno Vidick, Mr. Pery's associate, who together founded the Apal company.

The problem, from my perspective, is presenting a car as a Porsche after transforming an Apal vehicle. While this may seem obvious to some Porsche enthusiasts, there is an issue. At the time of its transformation, I do not believe that the Stuttgart firm was concerned about its new life under the Apal brand. It never claimed or incorporated the car's competition records, including its championship title in its category. This crucial point establishes the originality of the car as an Apal, not a Porsche. The company has effectively abandoned the fact that this car was no longer a Porsche.

For what it's worth, Mr. Michaelis was a regular at the Ciney vintage car fair and would often stop by Mr. Roba's booth. We found out that he used his Apal as his everyday car and would frequently make trips to Austria with his loyal dog. When he finally sold it after 30 years, the car had already covered more than 300,000 kilometers.

Michaelis's car

"

Inside the Apal factory

APALnum2.JPG (34.92 KiB) Viewed 104 times

Apal sold to Italy

[Martin Benade]

Did the Apal have 911 doors and window frames?

It has a very complicated history, some of it sketchy but known. It seems like once the body was gone, the only remaining Apal identity to it was some paperwork, and then became a real Porsche frame with a replica body on it.

At a nice discount, I think it would be a fun toy.