Spied! Porsche Boxster Speedster Roams Near the 'Ring

Just outside of the Nurburgring, our spy shooters found an interesting Porsche test mule. It's based on the current-generation Boxster, but with its cut-down windscreen, twin humps behind the cockpit, and altered bumpers, this appears to be a 'Speedster' rendition of Porsche'smid-engined sports convertible.

The Speedster moniker came about in the 1950s with a special version of the 356. The 356 Speedster was designed as a stripped-down, lightweight, and cheaper version of the 356 that would appeal both to racers and to West Coast sports car buffs looking for budget-priced fun in the sun. With a shortened windshield, a spartan interior with race-style bucket seats, and a sporty tonneau cockpit cover, the 356 Speedster became a legend, with plenty of race victories and famous fans, including James Dean and Steve McQueen.

In the 1980s and early 1990s, Porsche began a limited edition run of 911 Speedsters. An homage to the original 356 version, they featured the same stripped-down feel, chopped windscreen, and a twin-hump convertible top cover designed to emulate the 1500 GS racing versions.

Having already completed limited runs of Boxster 550 and RS 60 Spyder special editions, those cars designed as tributes to the original 550 and RS 60 race cars that the Boxster got its inspiration from, Porsche appears to be on the verge of releasing a limited-edition Speedster variant to close out production run of the current generation Boxster. We've seen photos of next-generation Boxster test mules already, and the current generation car likely has just one more year before being phased out.

Should a Boxster Speedster be in the works, we'll add some requests to the equipment list. How about the Fuchs-inspired alloys from the 911 Sport Classic along with the specially tuned 303-hp 3.4L flat-six from the Boxster RS 60? Oh, and a manually operated top would be quite appropriate -- though that might be an issue with the twin-hump cover. As much as we'd love for that roll cage to stay, we're guessing that's a test-mule-exclusive feature for safety's sake.

We'll keep you tuned as we learn more about the viability of the Porsche Boxster Speedster prototype.