1952 Glöckler-Porsche Roadster

I will argue that the Glöckler-Porsches were early flickers, puffs of smoke in the weeds, and the tinder didn’t really catch fire until the 550 came along

by Thor Thorson

Walter Glöckler occupies an honored place among Porsche owners. Not only was he one of the first to race a Porsche, he was also one of the first owners to take a standard Porsche and make substantial changes to it in order to make it more competitive. The mid-engined Glöckler-Porsche specials he built were the inspiration for Porsche’s mid-engined 550 sports racers. Walter Glöckler was a successful Frankfurt auto dealer who obtained one of the first Volkswagen dealerships after the war and rode VW’s success to prosperity. The Glöckler shop was run by Hermann Ramelow.

The car offered here, the third Glöckler-Porsche, adopted the standard Porsche rear-engined layout, with the rear suspension in its “proper” trailing arm configuration. Based on a standard Porsche cabriolet floorpan, Ramelow undertook the now-standard lightening modifications, removing everything that was non-essential and drilling out much of what was left. A 1,488-cc Porsche engine, again...