Tag Archives: Carmel by the Sea

A Season At Cannes – Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spyder #3195GT

Sharing the same short wheel base (SWB) chassis as the Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta first seen in 1959, a 280 hp version of the Ferrari 250 V12 motor and disc brakes the first of 54 or possibly 55 250 GT SWB California Spyders was shown to the public by Scaglietti at the 1960 Geneva motor show.

In 1962 the 32nd SWB California Spyder #3195GT painted green with a black interior was delivered to Jan de Vroom. de Vroom was a young man from Dutch Indonesia who was one of two men vying for the attentions of the much older Margaret de Cuevas.

Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spyder, Concours on the Avenue, Carmel by the Sea

Born Margret Strong in New York de Cuevas’s grandfather was oil billionaire John D Rockefeller.

Of the two men competing for Margret de Cuevas, de Vroom is painted as a roguish subterranean adventurer who walked on the wild side leading the increasingly eccentric Margret into a “pit of vipers” characterised as “male and uninterested in women”.

Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spyder, Concours on the Avenue, Carmel by the Sea

Margret set de Vroom up in the business of importing Italian glass and lamps, it is believed that having raced a variety of Ferrari’s from 1956 to 1958 which included making an appearance at Le Mans, de Vroom may have been one of a number of backers of US Ferrari importer Luigi Chinetti’s North American Racing Team (NART).

#3195GT is said to have been purchased for “a season at Cannes” and later in the 1960’s it was imported to the USA. During the 1970’s after a change in ownership the car was reported as having a dark blue with tan interior and later again as painted red.

Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spyder, Concours on the Avenue, Carmel by the Sea

de Vroom met an unpleasant end at the hands of a thug who demanded money. He was found with his throat cut and multiple stab wounds by a house guest in 1973, a crime for which the perpetrators were convicted and imprisoned. This left the way open to Margret’s other suitor to move in and marry her when she was eighty and allegedly relieve her of most of her remaining wealth.

Since the 1990’s #3195GT has been a regular on the Concours circuit with Robert Baker being awarded a first in class at the 1994 International Ferrari Concours at Monterey and I believe current owner Larry Carter took home another class award from the 2008 Pebble Beach Concours.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for sharing these photo’s taken at the 2012 Concours on the Avenue at Carmel by the Sea and to Jerry Entin, Willem Oosthoek, Richard ‘Vitesse2’ Armstrong, Arjan de Roos and Rob Semmeling at The Nostalgia Forum for their help with Jan de Vroom’s story.

Thanks for joining me on this “A Season At Cannes” 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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Moka Express – Ferrari 250 GT SWB Competizione #1905

In 1933 inventor Luigi De Ponti patented his design for an aluminium stove top coffee maker known as the Moka Pot for Alfonso Bialetti who sold 70,000 of them locally in Italy up until the start of ’39-’45 war.

In 1946 Alfonso’s son Renato took over the business and focused it’s attention entirely on manufacturing and marketing the Moka Express so that by 2001 over 220 million units had been sold.

Ferrari 250 GT SWB Competizione, Concours on the Avenue, Carmel by the Sea,

In 1960 Renato paid 5.5 million Lira for today’s featured Ferrari 250 GT SWB Competizione chassis #1608 which was delivered appropriately enough for someone involved in the coffee industry painted white with a black interior.

Chassis #1905 has no known in period competition history and it was sold to it’s fifth owner RM’s Scottsdale auction in January 2013 for US$18.14 million including buyers premium.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for sharing today’s photograph which was taken at Concours on the Avenue in Carmel by the Sea in 2011.

Thanks for joining me on this “Moka Express” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I be looking at a cabriolet built by Bertone. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Low Roof Coupé – Ferrari 250 GT Boano Coupé #0553GT

When Pinin Farina could no longer keep up with the production of Ferrari bodies in the mid 1950’s a deal was struck with Mario-Felice Boano of Carrozzeria Boano to manufacture bodies to a Pinin Farina design.

Ferrari 250 GT Boano, Concours on the Avenue, Carmel by the Sea

Today’s featured Low Roof Coupé chassis #0553GT was manufactured in 1956 and delivered to it’s first owner Franco Buzzoni in Pisa, Italy. By 1960 it was to be found in the United States the car then went to France and the Netherlands having it’s original motor swapped out in the 1970’s.

Ferrari 250 GT Boano, Concours on the Avenue, Carmel by the Sea

In 2006 #0553GT was reunited with it’s original motor and the following year owner Tony Schwartz gave the car it’s competition debut winning it’s class at Mt. Tremblant and in two races at Fontana.

In 2008 Gerald T. Vento of Velox Motorsport acquired #0533GT which is one of 88 Ferrari 250 GT’s for which Boano built bodies between 1955 and 1957.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for sharing his photo’s of #0533GT which were taken at Concours on the Avenue in Carmel by the Sea in 2011.

Thanks for joining me on this “Low Roof Coupé” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again for a FIAT by Bertone. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Wonder Bread Special – Rigling #0113S

It’s the month of May where the focus of open wheel racing fans traditionally descends on Indianapolis of the “Greatest Spectacle In Racing” run, inclement weather not withstanding, on Memorial Day weekend. As in years passed this months Sunday blogs will look at some of the vehicles from Indy’s 103 year history starting with this 1933 Rigling.

Rigling & Henning Buick, Wonder Bread Special, Concours on the Avenue, Carmel by the Sea

Getting the story of US built cars that participated in the Indy 500 up to 1964 right is probably one of the more difficult challenges a motor historian can undertake, in part because the open wheel scene was largely a cottage industry with only a hand full of people in the know and in part because naming rights were sold in return for sponsorship. Identification and histories of cars from the low tech low cost so called Junkyard Formula of the post depression years 1930 – 1939 are particularly hard to discern because of the low budgets and many unannounced deals that took place to keep the grids full.

Rigling & Henning Buick, Wonder Bread Special, Concours on the Avenue, Carmel by the Sea

So far as I know the earliest appearance of a chassis credited to Herman Rigling was in the 1931 Indy 500 when 8 of the 40 starters are credited with being built by Rigling. The Rigling built cars were powered by either Buick, Miller, Studebaker, Clemons or Dusenberg motors. Top Rigling finisher was Phil Shafer in his Buick powered example known as the Shafer 8 he was classified 12th.

Rigling & Henning Buick, Wonder Bread Special, Concours on the Avenue, Carmel by the Sea

There is a photograph showing what appears to be today’s featured car, the #54 Wonder Bread Special, at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1933 with rookie George Barringer at the wheel with Earl Allen his riding mechanician. George and Earl appear to have failed to qualify for the race.

Wonder Bread, a brand invented by the Indianapolis based Taggart bakery, did however sponsor the #18 Duesenburg driven by Joe Russo who classified 17th and running with 192 laps completed, while H.W. Stubblefield driving the #8 Abels and Fink Auto Rigling Buick did finish 5th in the The 21st International 500-Mile Sweepstakes Race.

George Barringer made his first Indy start in 1934 driving the #18 Boyle Products Miller being classified 15th completing 161 laps before a front axle problem intervened. His best Indy 500 result came in 1939 when he finished 6th driving Bill Whites Well Offy.

Some of the above is at variance with the information displayed with the car at Concours on the Avenue in Carmel by the Sea some years ago, if you have evidence to show my information is incorrect please do not hesitate to chime in below.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for sharing his photo’s of the #54 Wonder Bread Special seen at Concours on the Avenue, Carmel by the Sea in 2012.

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

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Wendy’s Indoor Playground – Ferrari 250 GT/E #2259 GT

Like some Bristol cars there are some Ferrari’s you either love or see as opportunities to tear apart for recycling into more desirable models or heaven forbid turn into complete replica’s of more illustrious models, in the UK these vehicles are known as “Marmite” cars, you either love, or love to hate them.

One such is the first production model, as opposed to special order model, Ferrari to be fitted with a rear seat and useable boot / trunk as standard like today’s featured Ferrari 250 GT/E.

Ferrari 250GT/E, Concours on the Avenue, Carmel by the Sea

The practicalities of the 250 GT/E made it a huge, by Ferrari standards, seller with 955 cars built in 3 series between 1959 and 1963. Today’s featured car chassis #2259 GT, seen by Geoffrey Horton at Carmel by the Sea some years ago, is one of the 302 Series I vehicles built between 1960 and 1961.

Thanks to the intervention of Tom Yang, pronounced Young, and a deal cut in the privacy of a Wendy’s indoor play area #2259 is a two owner car.

Ferrari 250GT/E, Concours on the Avenue, Carmel by the Sea

The first owner was Carlo Durante who bought the car in Milan in 1960, Carlo who runs his own auto shop Alfa of Tacoma in Washington drove the car for nine years before some bad fuel clogged up a carburetor causing one of the pistons to run too lean and get holed.

Carlo got his 63,000 mile car back to his shop striped the engine out and for next 40 years nothing more happened as the pressure of work meant Carlo did not have time to attend to his pride and joy.

Ferrari 250GT/E, Concours on the Avenue, Carmel by the Sea

Fast forward to the Autumn of 2009 and California Ferrari preservation expert Tom Yang got wind of Carlo’s car and through a mutual friend built up a friendship that culminated in Tom introducing Carlo to a potentially sympathetic new owner. After they had been to visit Carlo and his 250 GTE all three went to a Wendy’s and a deal was struck.

Tom who would take care of the recommissioning of #2259 GT received it at his workshop on the last day of March 2011 and fourteen months later it was back, in not just working order, but Concours condition as can be seen in these photo’s taken by Geoffrey in August 2012.

Ferrari 250GT/E, Concours on the Avenue, Carmel by the Sea

Most of the car is still original, including the paintwork, despite having the 3 liter / 183 cui V12 motor painstakingly rebuilt, the rear differential resealed, brakes overhauled to better than original condition and the carpets replaced. The seats were saved and repaired as was the original wood rimmed Nardi steering wheel which has been beautifully preserved.

The new owner was awarded the FCA Pacific Region Vintage Concours Preservation Award at Concorso Italiano, Laguna Seca Golf Ranch just 3 day’s after these photo’s were taken. Coincidentally the man responsible for the preservation of #2259 GT, Tom Yang is seen in the bottom photo wearing the grey blazer on the right.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for sharing today’s featured photographs and to Tom Wilson, not only for his lightening quick response to my enquiry about today’s featured Ferrari at Ferrari Chat, but also for recommending Tom Yang’s excellent website which documents it’s preservation and recommissioning.

Thanks for joining me on this “Wendy’s Indoor Playground” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow for a look at the last of this month’s Gilbern series. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Hold The Rocker Panel Stripes – Ford GT40 Mk 1 #GT40 P/1034

In order for Ford to meet the mandatory minimum 50 production number for it to be able to race, Ford sold at least four of it’s Mk1 GT40’s for road use with a minimum of primarily luxury modifications which included, interior carpeting, non-perforated leather seats, and leather door pouches, additionally today’s featured car #GT40 P/1034 was also fitted with wing mirrors, a heated rear screen and reversing light’s. Beyond that the car was equipped with a race tuned 380 hp, 289 cu. in. V-8 engine with four Weber 48IDA carburetors, five-speed ZF manual transmission, four-wheel independent suspension, and four-wheel disc brakes just like the racers alongside which it was built at Ford Advanced Vehicles in Slough, England.

Ford GT40, Carmel by the Sea, Concours on the Avenue

This particular car, seen in these photographs by Geoffrey Horton at Carmel by the Sea Concours on the Avenue last year, was ordered by James Fielding, of Gloucester, England painted Pine Green with no stripes on the rocker panels. Fielding was Chairman of Heenan & Froude, the company that manufactured the dynamometers on which the GT40s were tested and P/1034 was the first GT40 to be delivered to a UK customer in March 1966. Fielding used it exclusively as a road car.

Ford GT40, Carmel by the Sea, Concours on the Avenue

Subsequent owners including Paul Weldon and Australian George Parlby raced the car in classic events, Parlby even had the car painted in the colours of the Gulf Oil Company during a rebuild.GT40 specialist and enthusiast Harley E. Cluxton III, of Scottsdale, Arizona acquired #P/1034 at one point and later it went to Germany where Peter Roessler drove it to victory in the Grand Prix of Stuttgart held at the Hockenheimring.

David Bowden, of Queensland, Australia acquired P/1034 in 1999 where it was again frequently successfully raced by the likes of Kevin Bartlett. In 2001 David had the car repainted it’s original Pine Green with a pair of non original silver stripes.

The current owner returned P/1034 to the USA and earlier this year turned down a high bid of $2,150,000 at RM Auctions for this sublime vehicle.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for sharing his photograph’s of today’s featured Ford GT40.

Thanks for joining me on this “Hold The Rocker Panel Stripes” 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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Series 2 Pagoda – ISO Rivolta ISO Grifo CAN Am

In 1970 ISO Rivolta carried out a face lift of it’s ISO Grifo model, the most noticeable external difference between the Series II, seen in these photographs by Geoffrey Horton taken at last years Carmel by the Sea Concours on the Avenue, and the Series I being the pop up half cover over the headlights.

ISO Rivolta, Iso Grifo Can Am, Carmel Concours by the Sea

The face lift also saw the end of the 435 hp Super 7 Litri / 427 cui model which was replaced by the new CAN Am model powered by the 395 hp 7.4 litre / 454 cui Chevrolet big block.

ISO Rivolta, Iso Grifo Can Am, Carmel Concours by the Sea

Despite the increased aerodynamic efficiency the increased weight of the less powerful, yet larger, motor meant that the CAN Am’s top speed was ‘only’ 168 mph as against the 186 mph claimed for the Series 1 Super 7 Litri.

ISO Rivolta, Iso Grifo Can Am, Carmel Concours by the Sea

I believe today’s featured 1971 CAN Am is one of just 24 ISO Rivolta Iso Grifo CAN Am’s built between 1970 and 1972. Their beauty and connection with Bizzarini, designer of the fabled Ferrari 250 GTO, means that these cars are not going to leave a new owner with much by way of change from $400,000 dollars, indeed last year a partially restored example of a CAN Am was offered on e-bay for an eye watering buy it now price of $322,000 ! It is not known at the time of writing if the item sold.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for sharing today’s photographs.

Thanks for joining me on this “Series 2 Pagoda” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a 1953 Standard Pickup. Don’t forget to come back now !

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