Love your work and attention to detail Ed. I look forward to your updates on this build. I for one, enjoy sharing the experience of my speedster with others; as in I enjoy having passengers with me. Whether that is my wife, my son or friends. I can't help but wonder what a PITA it would be to have passengers in 550-0056, given the location of the shifter. It may promote a few awkward touches on one's leg when throwing it up into third. Or, maybe that's a good thing if you're a bachelor with a rather fine passenger in the seat.....
My guess would be that 99% of the time, you will never find someone that has been that intimate with a real 550. I'd venture to guess that you'd have 99% of folks fooled while driving that car around Monterey during Monterey week.
I'm not one of those that have that intimate knowledge of a spyder. I was able to get close to a real spyder this year at the Monterey Historics. (I had a lot of time to spend at the track given I lost my ignition key) I wonder if every "real" spyder had the shifter in the same location, or if it was modified over time?
In the same breath, I walked Pebble with some hardcore Ferrari enthusiasts. It was interesting to learn from them what was "wrong" with the cars on display on the 18th fairway. The moral here?.....I absolutely love the research you have done, and the investment to detail you have provided. But even the real deal lawn cars are not exactly perfect.