Tag Archives: 250 GT SWB

The Breadvan – Ferrari 250 GT SWB #2819

Today’s unique vehicle came to be built after Count Giovanni Volpi di Misurata fell out with Enzo Ferrari for financing a rival Formula One team ATS which employed ex Ferrari personnel Carlo Chiti, Giotto Bizzarrini and World Champion driver the American Phil Hill.

#2819 started life as a regular Ferrari 250 GT SWB and was entered in the 1961 Tour de France by Ecurie Francochamps for Olivier Gendebien and Lucien Bianchi who finished 2nd. The car was then acquired by Count Giovanni Volpi di Misurata who’s Scuderia Serenissima di Venezia entered the 1961 Paris 1000 kms for Maurice Trintignant and Nino Vaccarella who finished 3rd.

Ferrari 250 GT SWB, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

Wanting a third vehicle to enter in his Le Mans team which included one 250 GTO, #3445 and a Ferrari TR/61, #0792TR which won at Sebring, but unable to secure a second 250 GTO from Ferrari, Count Volpi di Misurata had his 1961 250 GT SWB upgraded to 250 GTO spec by the very man responsible for conceiving the original 250 GT SWB and 250 GTO series Giotto Bizzarrini.

Allegedly in just 14 days Giotto Bizzarrini & Piero Drogo modified Count di Misurata’s 250 GT SWB by moving the dry sumped engine back 5 inches behind the front axle so that it could be mounted lower in the chassis. Piero Drogo came up with a staggeringly beautiful body with a cut off ‘Kamm’ tail which led to the name Breadvan. The finished car was 143 lbs lighter than the 250 GTO and 7 mph faster on the 4 mile Mulsanne straight at Le Mans.

Ferrari 250 GT SWB, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

The body of the 250 GT SWB Breadvan is so low that a plastic bubble was devised for the hood to cover the six Webber carburettors. The 276 horse power 2953 cc / 180 cui V12 engine weighed nearly half that of the contemporary XK straight six used by Jaguar in it’s D & E Type racers.

#2819 driven by Carlo Maria Abate and Colin Davis was leading the works 250 GTO’s in the 1962 Le Mans 24 Hours when it retired after four hours with drive shaft failure. After a 4th place finish at Brands Hatch for Abate, and 3rd place in Paris for Ludovico Scarfiotti and Davis the ‘Breadvan’ was used by Count di Misurata as a road car.

Ferrari 250 GT SWB, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

The original SWB body from #2819 was fitted to chassis #2439 by Scaglietti in 1962 after Gunnar Anderson had a couple of accidents at Falkenberg and Västkustloppet in Scandinavia.

Apparently Count Volpi di Misurata lent The Breadvan to Gianni Agnelli, then head of FIAT, who had the vehicle painted black by his butler because it reminded him of a hearse, it is not noted if this had anything to do with then delicate state of Ferrari finances at the time, the Ferrari road car division was eventually absorbed by FIAT in 1969.

Thanks for joining me on this “The Breadvan Edition” of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at Colin Chapmans 1968 turbo charged all wheel drive Indy challenger. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Goodwood 2012 – #5 Ferrari Friday

If I heard the commentary on Goodwood Radio correctly then there were over $300 million dollars worth of cars at Goodwood last Friday with 11 Ferrari 250 GTO’s present that would make up the first $120 million very quickly !

Ferrari 250 GTO, Goodwood Revival

Among the 250 GTO’s I had not seen before was chassis #4219GT a car which Pedro Rodriguez drove to victory in the second Daytona 3 Hour race held in 1963. This car is reputed to have changed hands for just over $12,000 in 1964 and between $3 and 3.5 million in 1993 !

Ferrari 250 TR 59/60, Goodwood Revival

The role call of drivers of this Ferrari 250 TR #0774TR includes Jean Behra and Dan Gurney who did not finish the 1959 Le Mans 24 hours in it, Phil Hill and Cliff Allison who won the 1960 1000kms at Buenos Aires before it returned to Le Mans where it won the 1960 24 hours with Olivier Gendebien and Paul Frere at the wheel.

Ferrari 250 GT SWB, Goodwood Revival

I am not sure of the chassis number of this 250 GT SWB Berlinetta so I’m not sure wether or not it’s a Competizione model or not, if you know your 250 GT SWB’s and no the identity of this one please chip in with a reference or two below.

Ferrari 275 GTB/C SWB, Goodwood Revival

A class win at Le Mans in 1967 for drivers Dietter Sporey and Rico Steinemann followed by another in the 1000 kms at Spa in 1969 with Jaques Rey and Edgar Berney at the wheel did not do much to help the value of this car in 1969 when it changed ownership for just $6,000. By 1983 the value had leapt to $150,000 two years later it was fire damaged and the wreck changed hands for $46,000.
The restored car then went to Japan for a reputed $800,000 in 1988, since then it has come to reside in the UK via the USA for undisclosed sums.

250 MM PF Berlinetta, Goodwood Revival

My personal pick for Ferrari of the day is this 250 MM Pinifarina Berlinetta with a longer than standard nose. The car has little racing history from it’s heyday and lost 1 million Italian Lira in value, just under 1/3rd, between 1953 and 1955. By all accounts it was used for to chauffeur movie stars in 1954.

Ferrari 250 GTE, Goodwood Revival

If you can’t have the Ferrari 250 of your choice there are plenty of less valuable 250 GTE’s like the 1963 example above that can be acquired and transformed into the Ferrari of your dreams at a fraction of the price of the real thing.

Ferrari 250 GTO, Goodwood Revival

For one reason or another this Ferrari 250 GTO #3757 has come up for discussion on GALPOT numerous times, I make no apology for showing yet another photo of it again because this time former Ferrari Grand Prix driver and would be Indy rookie Jean Alesi can be seen at the wheel.

Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta, Goodwood Revival

Christian Horner is best known as team principle of the multiple championship winning Red Bull racing, he was also a dab hand behind the wheel making it all the way to the second tier Formula 3000 open wheel series before the money ran out and he opted for team management in 1998. Christian is seen here in the Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta chassis 1953GT another car that has been mentioned before in connection with the motor from 250 GT SWB Berlinetta #2025 that has been fitted to the #60 seen here.

Ferrari 290 MM, Goodwood Revival

The car above driven by Mike Malone looks like a 1958 Ferrari 250 TR however it actually started life as 1956 290 MM Scaglietti Spyder #0606 with Right Hand Drive. After Maurice Trintignant and Phil Hill won first time out in Sweden car was upgraded to 1959 250 TR specs at the factory and ended up in Brazil where Rio Negri was killed after probably mistaking the central pedal for the brakes when it was actually the accelerator. The remains of the fire damaged car were eventually fitted with a Ford V8. Much later it was discovered and mistaken and built up again as the Left Hand Drive ’59 250 TR 0726. Many years later it came to light that the car was actually #0606. Finding Ferrari’s can be difficult identifying them correctly even more so !

Ferrari 860 Monza, Goodwood Revival

Last year I saw 1985 Indy winner Danny Sullivan at my local track Castle Combe, this year I have now seen him race a Ferrari at Goodwood, above he is driving a 1956 Ferrari 850 Monza chassis 0604M, as we saw in a previous post Danny is following in the footsteps of one five time Juan Manuel Fangio and America’s first world champion Phil Hill ! Danny qualified 15th but did not finish the Sussex Trophy Race.

Ferrari 750 Monza, Goodwood Revival

Finally the Freddie March Memorial Trophy race included this 1955 Ferrari 750 Monza Scaglietti Spider S1 chassis #0504M which appears to have been raced by Frenchman Michael Poberejsky under the pseudonym Mike Sparken. Michael won a race in Morocco before sharing the car with Marsten Gregory at Le Mans in 1955 where they failed to finish. R and A Frankel retired with less than half an hour to go in the Freddie March Memorial Trophy too !

Thanks for joining me on this ‘#5 Ferrari Friday’ edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at some of the Lotus racing cars that were present at Goodwood. Don’t forget to come back now !

PS 12 09 21 Condolences to family and friends of Michael Poberejsky who died this morning at his home in Beaulieu sur Mer.

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