Tag Archives: 250

Unknown History – Ferrari 250 GT/E #3509

Today’s featured 1962 Series 2 Ferrari 250 GT/E chassis #3509, was supplied to a person or entity known only as Berlet in Italy.

Ferrari 250 GT/E, Niello Concours at Serrano

Exactly when current owner Bill Finkbeiner bought the car, or even who from, is not known at this time, if you know any further history about the car please do not hesitate to chime in below.

Ferrari 250 GT/E, Niello Concours at Serrano

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for sharing these photographs of #3509 taken at Niello Concours at Serrano last year.

Ferrari 250 GT/E, Niello Concours at Serrano

Thanks for joining me on this “Unknown History” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres.” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I will be looking at a one off Formula 5000 car. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Tom Meade Special – Ferrari 250 GT SWB NeMBo Spyder #3771GT

Today’s featured Ferrari started life as a 1962 Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta with a steel Berlinetta body that was supplied to E Molozzi.

By this time a Californian Tom Meade had hitched from Norway to Rome in pursuit of a dream to own an Italian exotic car with his savings from a four year stint in the US Navy.

Tom eventually got to the Maserati factory at Modena where he managed to procure an old Maserati 350S sans engine and fit it with a Corvette motor that was surplus to Lloyd “Lucky” Crasners requirements.

Ferrari 250 GT SWB Nembo Spyder, Hillsborough Concours d'Elegance

With input from Gentilini and Fantuzzi Tom’s first special was completed and sent to San Fransisco where Tom briefly settled until some friends landed the car in a Marin County tree top.

With the proceeds from the sale of the wreckage Tom returned to Italy in 1963 where he bought two less than perfect Maserati’s and made them roadworthy before acquiring chassis #3771GT.

It is not clear why #3771GT needed a rebody but it may have been due to flood damage from the 1966 disaster that struck Florence, it appears that a William Dixon was involved in commissioning Tom to rebody the car to his own specifications which included fitting a Ferrari 250 GTO/64 windscreen.

Ferrari 250 GT SWB Nembo Spyder, Hillsborough Concours d'Elegance

My understanding is that Neri & Bonaccini got the car mechanically back on it’s feet by 1968 two years after William Dixon from Seattle bought it.

The contraction of the Neri Mead and BOnaccini names that gives #3771GT it’s NeMBo sorbriquet which coincidentally is also the Italian name given to the Superman cartoon character and equally coincidentally means ‘coat’ in Swahili.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for sharing these photographs of #3771GT taken at Hillsborough Concours d’Elegance last year.

“Thanks for joining me on this “Tom Meade Special” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Keeping Tabs On 954 2+2s – Ferrari 250 GT/E 2+2 #3601GT

Looking for information about today’s featured Ferrari 250 GTE 2+2 I checked out all the usual suspects the DVLA Vehicle Check site suggests this car was built in 1961 and registered in the UK on the 20th of November 2012.

Barchetta has not got a note on this registration and so was unable to help, though the photograph’s did make me wonder if this car is actually a Series III car built between 1962 and 1963 because the fog lights are recessed into the front wing fender panel.

Ferrari 250 GT/E, Silverstone Classic,

Next I had a look at a thread devoted to 250 GT/Es on the Ferrari Chat site, all 30 pages of it, but could not find anything conclusive and so I left a post asking if anyone had the chassis number for the car.

While I was going through the 30 pages I found out that a chap called Tom Wilson tries to keep tabs on all 954 250 GT/E 2+2’s that were built and runs a website dedicated to the model, he likens the self imposed task to a “full time job”.

Ferrari 250 GT/E, Silverstone Classic,

Some interesting stats Tom came up with include; that 221 GT/Es were confirmed alive and well between 2009 and 2011, 2 had been rebuilt as convertibles.

337 GT/Es were confirmed alive and well up to 2009 and there were 129 GT/E’s about which there was no information beyond the factory assigned chassis numbers and build dates.

Ferrari 250 GT/E, Silverstone Classic,

Of the rest 45 had been converted into SWB Berlinetta’s, 36 into GTO’s, 34 into Testa Rossas, 19 into California Spyders, 4 into 250 GT TdFs, and 2 into 225 Vignales.

Tom described the remaining 15 GT/Es as having been converted into cars that “defy categorization“.

Ferrari 250 GT/E, Silverstone Classic,

During the hour or so it took me to write this blog there have been two responses to my request for help identifying today’s featured car at Ferrari Chat, Global Moderator El Wayne speculated that the car might have been built in ’63 or actually be a 330 America, same GT/E body but with a bigger engine.

Kare, not or the first time, saved the day by confirming the car is chassis #3601GT a Series II 1962 car, one of at least to originally supplied to an entity known only as “Sonas”, that has been cosmetically altered front and rear to resemble a later Series 3 GT/E.

Primarily for Tom and Kare’s benefit and any other 250 GT/E aficionado’s, here is a list of the six 250 GT/E blog’s I have published so far, with links, that includes one unknown 250 GTO replica which has not so far been confirmed as having 250 GTE underpinnings.

250 GT/E Blogs :-

#2245

#2259

#2835 Wisconsin SWB

#4019 uncredited double bubble Zagato replica

#4049

#4089

#4873 looks like an approximation of a TRC

Unknown Replica

Possible Roelufs 250 GTO Replica does this have 250 GT/E underpinnings ?

My thanks to Kare at Ferrari chat for once again for identifying today’s featured car.

Thanks for joining me on this “Keeping Tabs On 954 2+2s” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at another unique special. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Narrowing Down The Options – Ferrari 250 GT Pininfarina Cabriolet Series 2

Playing the identify the Ferrari in the picture Geoffrey Horton has sent me has proved a fun challenge over the last 5 or so years and so it was with today’s featured 1960 Ferrari 250 GT Pininfarina Cabriolet Series 2 seen at the Blackhawk Museum.

Geoffrey kindly sent me a photo of the information board which identified the model but gave no details over which of the 204 Series 2 Cabriolet S2’s built between 1959 and 1962 today’s featured cars is.

Ferrari 250 GT Pininfarina Cabriolet, Blackhawk Museum

To give me a clue as to which car this might be I turned to the on line Register of Ferrari 250 GT Pininfarina Cabriolet Series 2’s published by Barchetta, which indicates that only 4 of these cars has been seen with white paintwork in recent years and all have full width front bumpers.

Of those one chassis #2737GT has a hard top and bumper overiders and so can be discounted, of the remaining three chassis #1775GT has it’s fog lights behind the decorative front grill and a tan interior and so can also be discounted.

Of the two remaining white cars chassis #1805GT can be differentiated from today’s car only by it’s tan interior which points to the possibility this car is chassis probably #1779GT which ticks all the identifying boxes available to me short of a photo of the chassis plate.

Barchetta does not have many details on the ownership of #1779GT except that the original owner appears to have been Gianni Agnelli who was of course the head of the FIAT empire.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for sharing today’s photo, if you can confirm the identity of the car please do not hesitate to chip in below.

Thanks for joining me on this “Narrowing Down The Options” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I will be looking at a one off competition car. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Finance Chairman’s Choice – Ferrari 250 GT Ellena Coupé #0807GT

Today’s featured Ferrari is the 23rd of 50 250 GT Ellena’s to be built between 1957 and 1958, it is believed to have originally been delivered to Ferrari’s representative in Hollywood California.

Ferrari 250 GT Ellena Coupé, Blackhawk, Museum

It’s ownership trail is not known until Cy Yedor bought the car in the 1990’s and had it restored to regular Concours award winning condition by Gary Thieltges of GT Motors in Glendale.

Cy was best known as a racer, he Ken Miles MG Special R1 against James Dean in the 1950’s, race starter and Competition License Director of the California Sports Car Club, he later also became Finance Director of The Ferrari Club of America.

In 2001 Cy sold #0807GT to Mark Templeton in Florida and Mark in turn sold the car on to Ferrari Connoisseur Diego Ribadeneira by 2004 and a year later it was bought by Inventor Henry P. Camisasca.

#0807GT was sold for $687,500 at RM Auctions to a yet to be identified purchaser in 2013.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for sharing today’s photo taken at the Blackhawk Museum last year.

Thanks for joining me on this “Finance Chairman’s Choice” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Wishing all GALPOT readers a prosperous New Year, don’t forget to come back now !

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Look A Like TRC – Ferrari 250 GT/E #4873

Today’s featured car started life as a right hand drive 1963 Series 3 Ferrari 250 GT/E chassis #4873 delivered to Maranello Concessionaires who sold it to a Mr H. R. V. Walkup DFC. of Highfields Motors in Derby.

Ferrari 250 GT/E, Silverstone Classic

Mr Walkup loaned the car to John Dalton in the 1960’s for him to race at Mallory Park with it’s original 2+2 body.

Ferrari 250 GT/E, Silverstone Classic

Mr Derek Welford of York appears to have commissioned R M Wilson Engineering of Leicester to fit the current vaguely TRC styled body in the 1980’s, the car is shown to have first been registered with it’s current licence plate on the 26th of January 1981.

Ferrari 250 GT/E, Silverstone Classic

Stuart Anderson bought the car in 1997 with 450 miles showing on the clock and kept it for 17 years before selling it to Darren Hills.

Ferrari 250 GT/E, Silverstone Classic

Stuart raced #4873, seen in these photographs at Silverstone Classic, primarily in the Pirelli Ferrari Formula Classic series where along with many wins the car holds five Group 1 lap records.

Ferrari 250 GT/E, Silverstone Classic

Prior to selling the car, to race a Morgan, Stuart shared his passion for his 250 GT/E TRC by setting up the ferrari250.com website where full details of the cars history and it’s modifications can be found.

Thanks for joining me on this “Look A Like TRC” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at “Baby Bertha”. Don’t forget to come back now !

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A Glimmer Of Hope – Ferrari 250 GT Pininfarina Cabriolet S2 #1865GT

Today’s featured Ferrari 250 GT Pininfarina Cabriolet S2, chassis #1865GT seen at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, was initially sent to Ferrari Representatives of California in 1960 before being bought by a former lab assistant, book salesman and piston ring salesman turned successful broadcaster of the Today show David Garroway.

Ferrari 250 GT Pininfarina Cabriolet S2, Goodwood, Festival of Speed,

“The Roving Announcer” Garroway was a pioneer of the informal conversational style and tone of television presentation, that had hitherto been more authoritative in the style of public oration, introducing one show thus :- “And how are you about the world today? Let’s see what kind of shape it’s in; there is a glimmer of hope.” in 1957.

Ferrari 250 GT Pininfarina Cabriolet S2, Goodwood, Festival of Speed,

David broadcast the Today show from a variety of locations including; Paris, Rome, car shows, technology expos, plays, movies and aboard a B-52 bomber for a practice bombing run, his catch phrase when signing off was “Peace”.

Ferrari 250 GT Pininfarina Cabriolet S2, Goodwood, Festival of Speed,

In the 1980’s this cars original engine stamped 326/F was installed in a Ferrari 250 GT Coupé chassis # 2027GT of similar vintage, while the engine from a 250 GTE chassis #2929GT had already been installed in today’s featured car a decade earlier.

Ferrari 250 GT Pininfarina Cabriolet S2, Goodwood, Festival of Speed,

#1865GT is the 29th of the 201 Ferrari 250 GT Series 2 Cabriolet’s to be built between 1959 and 1962, it was entered at Goodwood Festival of Speed by John Collins.

Thanks for joining me on this “There Is A Glimmer Of Hope” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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