Tag Archives: Modena

Sig. Nuvolari’s Replacement – Maserati 8CM #3018

On the 9th of July 1933 Tazio Nuvolari made his Maserati debut at the Belgium Grand Prix driving a Maserati 8CM chassis #3007. He continued to race the #3007, scoring two more wins, at Ciano and Nice in 1933, until mid way through 1934 when he broke his leg in it at Alexandria.

Maserati 8CM, Donington Park Museum

By June 1934 Maserati had supplied Tazio with today’s featured 8CM chassis #3018 which he drove in the Eifel GP at the Nurburgring where he retired. Two more retirements followed until he scored a 4th place finish in the 1934 German Grand Prix which was followed by successive 3rd and 2nd place finishes at Vivorno and Pescara respectively.

In August 1934 the original 3 litre / 183 cui 8 cylinder motor was replaced with a 1.5 litre / 91.5 cui 6 cylinder unit for voiturette races, making the car the first Maserati 6CM a full 18 months before the 6CM went into production in 1936. Tazio drove #3018 in voiturette spec to victories in the at Modena and Naples.

Tom Wheatcroft founder of the Donington Park Museum where the car is seen here owned the car for over thirty years before he passed away in 2009.

Thanks for joining me on this “Sig. Nuvolari’s Replacement” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will return tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a Bugatti built for royalty. Don’t forget to come back now !

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From The Mystery Batch – Ferrari 196 S

Early in the morning just after I arrived in the car park at the Goodwood Revival a couple of weeks ago I heard the low rev rumble of what was obviously a highly strung racing car, I looked over my shoulder to see a bright red car that looked like a Ferrari, sounded like a Ferrari and even smelled like a Ferrari right behind me. A while later I caught up with the car and mindful of keeping a stock of photo’s of Ferrari’s for Ferrari Fridays here at GALPOT I happily snapped away not entirely sure of what it was I was looking at.

It certainly looked like something from the late 1950’s, an HPI (like Carfax) check of the registration revealed that this car was built in 1958 and had a 2417 cc 147 cui engine an engine size I’d normally associate with a 246 Dino V6 from the early 1970’s.

Yet the car looked like a 12 cylinder Testa Rossa. Searching through Google images I came across another photo of what appears to be the same car labelled as a 1958 Ferrari 196S Fantuzzi Spyder.

I had a look at Barchetta website to see if I could identify the chassis number but could find no 196S model for 1958. There are however two 246S models listed for 1959 and 1960 the first chassis #0776TR owned by Sir Antony Bamford appears to also be known as a 196S, which looks similar to today’s featured car, but has a prominent additional scoop on the drivers side of the bonnet along with a perspex scoop for the carburetors.

The second 246S listed on the Barchetta site is chassis #0784 which I looked at a couple of weeks ago. Having drawn a blank as to which car 415 UXY was I tried asking at Ferrari Chat and was surprised to learn from Ed Niles and tx246 that this car is one of a batch of 12 196S replicas built more or less from scratch possibly in Modena possibly by ‘”Old Timers” that worked for Fantuzzi. Due to risk of these people losing their pensions, they work in secret.’

Searching ‘Ferrari 196S Replica’ in Google revealed two more cars from this mystery batch of around 12 which appear to have been built in the 1990’s, one yellow and one red the latter lists the name of the first owners as Mecanic – Import a specialist vehicle dealer in Belgium whom I have tried to contact and asked for more details about the ‘”Old Timers” that worked for Fantuzzi’ as of the time of writing I have had no reply.

My thanks to Ed Niles and tx246 at Ferrari Chat for their help unraveling today’s mystery car.

Thanks for joining me on the trail for another carcaeoloy hunt, I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a Lotus open wheeler. Don’t forget to come back now !

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My Word Is My Bond – Ferrari 250 GT Boano Convertible

Today’s uniquely bodied Ferrari images come straight from the Carmel By The Sea Concours on the Avenue which was held on Tuesday courtesy of GALPOTS regular contributor Geoffrey Horton.

Ferrari 250 GT Boano Convertible

In 1955 a New Yorker Robert Lee set off on a Safari stopping over in Rome for a week on the outward journey. While in Italy Mr Lee went to Modena and visited Enzo Ferrari who suggested that if Mr Lee should ever want to buy a Ferrari he should buy one direct from the factory in Italy.

Mr Lee responded that he did not think a Ferrari would be up to running on the streets of New York, to which Enzo replied “If you buy a Ferrari, I guarantee it will run in New York City”.

Ferrari 250 GT Boano Convertible, Carmel By The Sea

In 1956 Mr Lee saw this 250 GT Convertible on the Ferrari stand at the New York Auto Show, when Mr Lee enquired about the possibility of purchasing it he was informed by Luigi Chinetti, Ferrari’s New York representative, that the car was not for sale and would be returned to Modena after the show.

Mr Lee then sent Enzo a Telegram reminding him of their meeting and offering $ 9,500 dollars, all he had, for the Convertible.

Ferrari 250 GT Boano Convertible, Carmel By The Sea

Soon after on the instructions of Mr Ferrari, Mr Chinetti asked Mr Lee to bring him a cashiers cheque for $9,500 and the worlds only 250 GT Boano Convertible, which is alleged to have cost $20,000 to build, would be his.

55 years and two restorations later this unique car still belongs to Mr Lee, possibly making it the worlds oldest Ferrari in continuous original ownership.

Jaguar XK150,  Carmel By The Sea

My thanks again to Geoffrey Horton, seen above with his sister Vanessa and XK140, for today’s photographs, I hope you will join me in congratulating Geoffrey on winning second place at the Carmel By The Sea Councours on The Avenue.

Hope you have enjoyed this Boano Convertible edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’ and that you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a large Bristol. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Louder Option On Demand – Ferrari 360 Spider

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Surprisingly the Ferrari F360 Spider introduced in 2000 was only Ferrari’s twentieth road going convertible model.

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The aggressive timeless lines were drawn up by Pininfarina.

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Despite the chassis strengthening required to maintain rigidity and safety of the all aluminium space frame the 360 Spider weighs only 60 kgs / 132 lbs more than the 360 Coupé upon which the Spider is based.

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Power comes from a 400 hp 3.6 litre / 219 cui V8 fed fresh air by these side grills.

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The electrically powered roof folds away between the roll bars and engine in just 20 seconds.

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Options for the 360 Spider included a Tubi Style exhaust system which provided a modest increase in peak horse power and made the car sound louder.

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If any one wants to swap their 360 Spider for my entire collection of Hotwheels Ferrari’s please leave a message below.

My thanks to the Pistonhead who brought this timeless beauty along to the Sunday Service at the BMW plant back in January.

Hope you have enjoyed today’s Tubi Style edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’ and that you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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