Tag Archives: Ferrari

Chinese Whispers – Ferrari 375MM Vignale #0286AM

Today we are looking at a one off Ferrari 375MM Vignale chassis #0286AM, seen here at the recent Phil Hill Tribute at the Peterson Museum, that for 35 years was reported as being buried in a hole in the ground.

The Vignale bodied chassis 0286AM started life as one of four from a total of 10 340 MM’s with a 4.1 litre 250 cui Lamperdi V12. However before #0286AM left the factory it’s motor was upgraded first with a 4.5 litre / 274 cui V12 which had it’s origins in the Ferrari 375 Grand Prix Car, bringing the erstwhile Vignale bodied 340 MM up to 375 MM spec, in fact today’s car is seen as the prototype 375 MM. The motor was then bored out to 4.9 litres / 299 cui to the so called 375 plus spec.

#0286AM appeared at four events in 1953, Luigi Villoresi qualified on pole for a sports car race at Spa but the car was withdrawn before the start due to engine problems. Villoresi set fastest lap in the Circuito di Senigallia Race but again retired with engine problems.

Alberto Ascari and Giuseppe Farina drove #0286AM to victory at the 1953 Nurburgring 1000 kms after the engine had been changed from one of the other team cars before the start of the race. Somewhere around this time #0286AM was scheduled to transfer to the ownership of Tony Parravano however the engine problems at the Nurburgring meant this transaction never took place and Tony was given another 375 MM chassis #0362AM.

US Ferrari importer Luigi Chinetti then bought #0286AM painted it black added a full width screen and entered it for himself and Alfonso de Portago in the 1900 mile 1953 Carrera Panamericana where engine problems prevented the car from completing the race. The car was then sold to Carlos Braniff in Mexico City.

Braniff had the car prepared for the 1954 Carrera Panemericana with a standard 4.5 litre / 274 cui motor he had a second spare wheel fitted in the tail and added the distinctive head rest and fin as well as adding cooling vents for the wheels. Carlos drove the car to a second place finish at the The Lone Star National Sports Car Race held at Bergstrom and Phil Hill came second in the Orange Empire National Races held at March AFB prior to the Carrera Panemericana for which Hill was teamed up with Richie Ginther.

Hill & Ginther were in contention for the 1954 Carrera Panemericana win when they ran out of fuel on the 7th of 8 stages, on which they only managed a forth place finish. Hill & Ginther made up for the disappointment by completing the 572 mile final stage of the event, held on open roads remember, at a blistering 137 mph average to recover a 2nd place finish overall. That 137 mph average for the eighth stage of the Carrera Panamericana has never been beaten.

In 1955 Lou Buero became the owner of the car now repainted dark red / brown during the 1955 season Carrol Shelby drove the car to a victory at Torrey Pines. Lou Buero then had the head cylinder heads crack at the end of season races at Nassau and #0286AM would then go unseen in public for 39 years.

It turns out that the reports of the car being buried in the earth were just a tad far of the mark, after Lou Buero Snr passed away his son had tried to revive #0286AM by attempting to fit a Jaguar motor and gearbox, however having failed he entombed the car in a 20ft trailer barricading it in so that no one could steal it in 1956. The myth of the car being buried in the ground stemming perhaps the inevitable Chinese Whispers over the ensuing 39 years owing to the dark red / colour of the car when it was last seen and the fact that it had been entombed in a trailer.

#0286AM was in need of a ground up restoration after spending 35 years in less than ideal conditions in Arcata, California, galvanic corrosion of the steering wheel had been so bad the wood rim of the steering wheel had dropped off ! The process began in 1994 and by 1997 Phil Hill was reunited with #0286AM and he promptly drove it to victory at the Monterey Historic Automobile Races. That same year #0286AM also won the Pebble Beach Cup at the Concours d’Elegance.

My thanks to Mark Savory who was partly responsible for restoring #0286AM who’s website gives a more complete history and further photo’s of the car.

Thanks for joining me on this 137 mph edition of ‘Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

PS Don’t forget …

Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz

December 26th – January 2nd

Win a set of Paul Chenard Greetings Cards

Set 1 Sports & GT Cars

Set 2 Phil Hill World Drivers Championship 50th Anniversary Edition

Set 3 1934 Season

Set 4 Grand Prix Engines of the 1950’s

Set 5 Mike Hawthorn’s Race Cars

The Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz will comprise 8 categories.

Overall winner chooses one set of Paul Chenard Greetings Cards from the five sets shown above.

The cards measure 15.24cm x 11.43cm, come in packs of 12 with 3 copies of 4 designs in each set, plus A6 envelopes.

Which set will you choose ?

The free to enter Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz will run from December 26th – January 2nd Entries close January 8th 2012, Winner announced January 16th 2012.

Full details on December 26th at GALPOT.

Looking for Automotive Seasonal Gift Idea’s? Visit Automobiliart Now !

Shooting Brake – Ferrari FF

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Until the beginning of this year, so far as I know, you could count the number officially sanctioned Ferrari Shooting Brakes as absolutely nil until the Sultan of Brunei came along and ordered seven 456 ‘Venice’ shooting brakes around the turn of the millenium.

There had been several unoffical such vehicles stretching back to Count Giovanni Volpi who challenged the mighty Ferrari 250 GTO on the race track with a 250 GT SWB (#2819GT) converted into the legendary ‘Breadvan‘, there have been several other attempts you can judge the success or not of these ‘creations’ on this link.

On March 1st this year that changed when Ferrari launched the $300,000 Ferrari FF a 7 speed, dual clutch, 208mph, 650hp, 4 wheel drive leviathan.

The 6.3 litre / 385 cui 65 degree V12 motor is connected to a conventional gearbox to drive the rear wheels and a unique power take off unit to drive the front wheels that is activated only when the manettino dial on the steering wheel is in ‘comfort’ or ‘snow’ modes.

Just how use full the 16 cubic feet, or 28 cubic feet with the rear seats down, load area remains to be seen, but I guess if painters and decorators start rolling up for work in one of these models I’ll start retraining for new career.

It might be a while before I find the time to visit Maranello to give one of these a spin, but until then my friend Michele Rahal managed to bag the first ever public US seat time in an FF with the wonderful Dana Alloway by his side and a camera on the dash, enjoy this linked clip to find out what your missing if you have not had time to pop into your local Ferrari dealer recently.

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

PS Don’t forget …

Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz

December 26th – January 2nd

Win a set of Paul Chenard Greetings Cards

Set 1 Sports & GT Cars

Set 2 Phil Hill World Drivers Championship 50th Anniversary Edition

Set 3 1934 Season

Set 4 Grand Prix Engines of the 1950’s

Set 5 Mike Hawthorn’s Race Cars

The Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz will comprise 8 categories.

Overall winner chooses one set of Paul Chenard Greetings Cards from the five sets shown above.

The cards measure 15.24cm x 11.43cm, come in packs of 12 with 3 copies of 4 designs in each set, plus A6 envelopes.

Which set will you choose ?

The free to enter Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz will run from December 26th – January 2nd Entries close January 8th 2012, Winner announced January 16th 2012.

Full details on December 26th at GALPOT.

Looking for Automotive Seasonal Gift Idea’s? Visit Automobiliart Now !

Phil Hill Tribute – Peterson Museum

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It’s a great pleasure to blog about the recent tribute to Phil Hill, celebrating the 50th anniversary of his World Championship win, at the Peterson Automotive Museum thanks to GALPOT’s roving correspondent Geoffrey Horton.

Ueber car enthusiast Jay Leno was amongst the guests to lend humour to the occasion.

Amongst the exhibits was this 1931 Pierce Arrow convertible sedan by Lebaron that was ordered new by Phil’s Aunt and in which Phil leaned to drive. He also used the car to attend USC and in 1955 he restored the car with his brother Jerry and promptly unexpectedly won the Best in Show award at Pebble Beach.

Some of Phil’s competitors from his early days at this event shared with the appreciative audience stories of Phil’s early exploits with an MG TC in Cal Club events which were not always entirely legal events held on circuits.

Of the delectable Ferrari’s present that Phil has driven was this unique 1953 375MM with Vignale bodywork and non stock tailfin that was added after the car was built in 1954. Phil drove this car to a second place finish in the 1954 Carrera Panamericana. It was also later driven by Carol Shelby.

Nothing remains of the original Shark Nose Ferrari 156 which he used to win the 1961 World Drivers Championship, they were all destroyed on the instruction of Enzo Ferrari, but the helmet seen here was used by Phil in his Championship winning season.

This 1912 Packard Model 30 with a gearbox mounted ahead of the rear axle and rear cable operated brakes only was purchased by Phil in 1966 and won it’s class at Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in the 1970’s

Guests who discussed the life and times of Phil were left to right, John Lamm, Editor at Large “Road and Track, Denise McLuggage racing driver and journalist, Parnelli Jones, Jesse Alexander photographer, Dan Gurney, Jim Hall and Phil’s wife Alma.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for sending me the photo’s and the details of the Phil Hill Tribute evening at Peterson Automotive Museum.

Thanks for joining me on this Phil Hill edition of ‘Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres’ I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Ferrari Mondial Cabriolet

Bertones Ferrari – Dino 308 GT 4

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The mid engine 2+2 Dino 308 GT 4 stands out in the history of Ferrari for being the only Ferrari that was designed by Bertone, and this possibly only after pressure from Ferrari’s parent company FIAT had been applied.

Launched with Dino badges in 1973 to differentiate it from its V12 siblings the Dino was the first Ferrari to be powered by a V8. The Dino badges disappeared from the model in 1976.

The chassis was developed from the Dino 246 stretched to provide a 100.4 inch wheel base to provide accommodation for 4 and the transversely mounted engine.

The Dino 308 GT4 seen above at Castle Combe was driven by Andrew McAlpine and Ali Procter to a 20th place finish and class 8 victory in this years Tour Britannia.

While 308’s are not an uncommon sight in club motorsports only one 308 GT4 was prepared for international racing, chassis #08020 was entered by the North American Racing Team at Le Mans in 1974 where Giancarlo Gagliardi and Jean Louise Lafosse retired with clutch failure and in 1975 Cagliardi and Harley Cluxton failed to qualify eventually causing Luigi Chinetti to withdraw his whole team from the event just 80 minutes before the start of the race.

Between 1973 and 1980 2,826 308 GT4’s were produced, there was also an Italian spec 2 litre / 122 cui 208 GT4 built to take advantage of tax regulations. At around £20,000 pounds for a roadworthy example the 308 GT4 is probably the cheapest way of becoming a Ferrari owner today, though maintaining one might prove expensive as the motor needs to be removed for many maintenance tasks and it is not mounted on a sub frame as on some of the later Ferrari V8 models.

Thanks for joining me on this Bertone edition of ‘Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres’, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Awful In Everyway ? – Ferrari 400i

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Allegedly an oafish TV presenter of a well known pseudo comedy motoring program who probably couldn’t tell you the difference between a gear knob and a knob of butter once described the Ferrari 400 as ‘awful in everyway’.

Personally I don’t see how any car with a chassis that owes it’s heritage to the Ferrari Daytona and with a Ferrari V12 engine, no matter how strangled to meet emissions regulations, can be awful in any way.

Certainly the 400i body, designed by Pininfarina, is not as appealing as the GTC and Daytona models that preceeded it but IMHO it’s seventies boxiness is a good deal less retro and a good deal more appealing than the mindset of the oaf described in the opening paragraph.

The coupé was first launched as the 365 GT 2+2 in 1972, by 1976 that model was re badged the 400 which became the 400i in 1979, when this particular car seen at Bristols Italian Auto Moto Festival was built. The ‘i’ denotes fuel injection which was fitted in place of the previous carburetors.

Although compliant with US regulations, unlike the 365 GT4 Berlinetta Boxer, none of the 422 manual GT or 883 Automatic 400i variations, or indeed any Ferrari 400 models were officially imported into the United States, doubly surprising since the 400 was the first Ferrari to be offered with automatic transmission.

Thanks for joining me on this fuel injected edition of ‘Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres’, I hope you’ll join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Elegantly Understated – Ferrari 365 GTC/4

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Of all the Ferrari 365’s built the 505 GTC/4’s manufactured from 1971 to 1973 are with out doubt the oddballs of the family.

Closely related to the 365 GTB/4 ‘Daytona’ the V12’s fitted to GTC/4’s were fitted with side draught carburetor’s which allowed for a low bonnet line but at the cost of a 12 hp drop in performance to 340 hp compared to it’s better known sibling.

Despite the loss in engine performance as can be heard in this linked sound clip the 365 GTC/4 makes all the correct noises for the marque.

What makes the low key Pininfarina styled 365 GTC/4, seen here at the Silverstone Classic, an oddball is the 2 seats in the back that are rendered completely useless for anything other than a pair of overnight bags, because of the long rearward slopping roof line.

Shorter than the 365 GT 2+2 the 365GTC/4 is really a Daytona with extra luggage room rather than a true 2+2. Other significant differences include the gearbox being mounted with the engine on the GTC/4 as opposed to the transaxle of the GTB/4.

Externally a significant difference with Ferrari’s past, a sign of things to come, was the absence of any chrome on the bumpers which makes the car look stylishly timeless when compared to contemporary vehicles.

My thanks to the 365 GTC4 website where further information on this oft neglected model can be found.

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

Gettin' A Li'l Psycho On Tyres

Art Tidesco blogs on all things motoring