| Ferrari 250 GT LWB TDF RM Auctions - Automobiles of Arizona Jan 16 2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| RM Auctions: Automobiles of Arizona
January 16, 2009 ADMISSION: Admission to this sale requires the purchase of the offical auction catalog for $100. The catalog will admit two and must be presented at the entrance to the sale to be granted entry. AUCTION LOCATION Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa 24th Street & Missouri Phoenix, Arizona 85016 USA SALE DATES: January 16, 2009 11:00 AM - 7:00 PM (viewing starts at 9:00 AM) PREVIEW DATES: January 15, 2009 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM January 16, 2009 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM Estimate: $2,000,000-$2,500,000 US 240bhp, 2,953 cc, overhead camshaft alloy block and head V12 engine, four-speed gearbox, independent front suspension via A-arms, coil springs and telescopic shocks, and rear suspension via live axle, semi-elliptical springs and hydraulic shocks, and four-wheel hydraulic drum brakes. Wheelbase: 102.4" Ferrari was ready when the Commission Sportif International responded to the disaster at Le Mans in 1955 with renewed emphasis on racing gran turismo cars. This was the first of many attempts to slow down sports racing cars in the interest of enhanced safety for both competitors and – most importantly – spectators. This played directly into Enzo Ferrari’s hands, as he had been building GT cars for years – GTs different only in trim, coachwork and tune from the competition berlinettas built for long distance open road races like the Mille Miglia and Carrera Panamericana. At the 1956 Geneva Show a new berlinetta styled by Pinin Farina was shown, a clean and stylish design on the 2,600mm chassis. Using the original Colombo-designed Ferrari V12 now developed by Ferrari to produce 240-280 horsepower using three downdraft Weber carburetors, this new 250 GT was destined to dominate Gran Turismo racing for three years. It was supplanted as the GT racer of choice only by the development of the Ferrari 250 GT short wheelbase berlinetta in late 1959. Scaglietti, which had been building Ferrari’s racing car bodies for several years, now undertook building the lightweight Pinin Farina-designed series production cars of which the 1956 250 GT was the first. Scaglietti, as much sculptor as coachbuilder, may be credited with much of this model’s aesthetic appeal, softening some of Pinin Farina’s more emphatic lines to create a deft and cohesive design. Competition and the Tour de France Fulfilling the destiny of this handsome and purposeful shape became the task of Ferrari’s loyal and enthusiastic clients and distributors. Olivier Gendebien early on showed the 250 GT’s competence, winning its class in the 1956 Tour of Sicily and Mille Miglia while finishing fourth and fifth overall respectively. As demanding as these events were, one of the premier competition tests of the time was the Tour de France, a much longer event that started at Nice and ended five days and 5,383 kilometers later in Paris. Comprising both open road rally style stages, six circuit races (Comminges, Le Mans, Rouen, Rheims, St. Etienne and Montlhéry), two hillclimbs (Mt. Ventoux and Peyresounde) and a drag race (a 500 meter course at Aix-les- Bains), the Tour de France demanded speed, reliability, regularity and stamina from both the teams and their cars. In 1956, only 37 of 103 starters finished the Tour. One of them was the stylish and quick Alfonso de Portago, whose co-driver was the American Gunnar Nelson, driving an early version of the 1956 250 GT into first place overall after winning outright five of the six circuit races on the Tour. Second to Portago was none other than Stirling Moss driving a factory-backed Mercedes-Benz 300SL. In 1957 Olivier Gendebien teamed with Lucien Bianchi to back up Portago’s 1956 Tour de France win. They were followed home in second and third place overall by Trintignant/ Picard and Lucas/Malle, both in Ferrari 250 GTs. Having already associated the Mille Miglia with an earlier Ferrari 250 series, the sleek Pinin Farina-designed, Scaglietti-built berlinettas of 1956 adopted these two epic victories to become known as the “Tour de France” model, one of Ferrari’s longest-lived successes in competition and most coveted models. In 1958 Scaglietti’s design evolved slightly. Headlights were recessed into the front fenders and covered with Plexiglas fairings. Three slot front fender vents were featured. The rear fender peaks and taillights became more prominent and the greenhouse sail panel had a single vent to extract air from the closed interior. 1958 250 GT TdFs also benefited from numerous mechanical improvements, the most important of which was a new gearbox with centrally located shift lever. Many internal features of the engine were strengthened and there were new valves, a new crankshaft, stronger connecting rods and revised cylinder heads and intake manifold. The appropriateness of the appellation “Tour de France” for these cars became even more obvious when in 1958 Gendebien/Bianchi repeated their overall victory, this time followed by Trintignant/Picard (again) and Da Silva Ramos/Estager in third, all in 250 GT Ferraris. The magnitude of these accomplishments is apparent from the fact that in 1957 only 23 of 72 starters reached the finish line in the Tour; in 1958 it was only 21 of 60. 250 GT Tour de France Ferraris also were racking up other impressive performances in the hands of private entrants in Europe and the U.S. Stalwart Olivier Gendebien, partnered with his cousin Jacques Wascher, turned in a stunning performance in the 1957 Mille Miglia, finishing first in class, third overall and barely eight minutes behind the 4.1 liter Ferrari sports racer of Piero Taruffi. Against the large capacity sports racers Gendebien even captured the Gran Premio Nuvolari for the fastest overall time between Mantua and Brescia, beating Von Trips’ Ferrari by 1.4 miles per hour and Taruffi by 2.5 mile per hour. Other 250 GTs finished sixth, seventh, ninth and tenth overall, a remarkable performance especially considering their competition included a strong factory-backed Mercedes-Benz entry. The outstanding performance of Gendebien and the 250 GT was, however, marred by the tragic accident in the 1957 Mille Miglia by de Portago whose 250 GT crashed into the crowd near Guidozzolo di Mantova, killing both Portago and his co-driver Nelson along with a number of spectators. In the wake of the 1955 Le Mans disaster and the obvious fact that the GT cars, particularly the Ferrari 250 GT Tour de France, were every bit as fast as the best sports racers in the world, stronger measures would be taken and the half-century tradition of racing over public roads would end. 0787 GT The Ferrari 250 GT Tour de France Berlinetta on offer, chassis 0787 GT, is the 12th of 18 Series II cars built and as such is a three-louver example with covered headlights. Notably, this particular example was also delivered with chrome headlamp trim pieces, one of which remains original today. In preparation for the auction a second example has been duplicated and both are now being fitted to the car. Interestingly, these trim pieces can be seen in many of the historic photos of the car racing as well. Finished in Rosso red with a matching interior and covered headlights, it was completed by the factory on January 15th, 1958 before being sold new the following month to its first owner, Oscar Papais of Venice, Italy. Records indicate competition success came quickly as 0787 GT was raced on March 16th at the Campionato Universario at the Modena Aerautodromo by Eros Crivellari, placing first in the GT class. On June 8th of that year, the car placed third overall at the Coppa Cittá di Asagio with Papais behind the wheel. Papais was joined by Crivellari for the Mille Miglia Rallye two weeks later and the pair finished fourth overall. 0787 GT was then sold in February 1959 by Papais to Countess Elvira Vaselli, who in turn sold the car in June the same year through Franco Marenghi to the car’s third owner, Frederico José Carlos Themudo “Fritz” D’Orey, a Brazilian racing driver who made his Formula 1 debut shortly thereafter. D’Orey registered the car on Italian plates and raced it at the Gran Premio Lotteria di Monza (seventh overall) as well as the XIV Trento-Bondone hillclimb (second in GT class) in July 1959. September 1959 proved rather uneventful, however, as D’Orey failed to finish at the XI Coppa Inter-Europa in Monza due to engine failure and did not start the Tour de France with racing driver and future coachbuilder Piero Drogo, as engine problems could not be solved in time for the race. 0787 GT’s fourth owner was Manual José Tudella Nogueira Pinto of Oporto, Portugal, who purchased the car in June, 1960 before selling it in 1963 to Maria Luisa Eccher Dall’Eco of Milan. After Dall’Eco, the car passed through three additional Milanese owners before being exported to the United States in 1968. James G. Boulware of Monte Sereno, California purchased the car in 1970. By 1973, it appears the car was fitted with a 250 GT LWB California Spider engine (no. 1253 GT) in the San Diego area. Subsequently, the TdF received a period correct 128D Ferrari Classiche stamped block, which it retains today. The car ultimately found its way back to Italy, sold in 1975 to Luciano Tosim of Bassano del Grappa, Italy, who in turn sold it to Vittorio Pizzolotto in Treviso. Pizzolotto owned the car for quite some time, competing at the historic races at Salo, Lake Garda in 1976, the Ferrari Days meeting at Modena in 1983 and the Mille Miglia in 1984. In 1986, Pizzolotto drove the challenging Nürburging for the AvD-Oldtimer-Grand Prix and, the following year, once again competed in the Mille Miglia. 0787 GT was sold at auction in 1990 and by 1991 was owned by Dutch Ferrari importer Frits Kroymans before it joined the impressive collection of Victor R. Muller of Holland in 1999. Muller showed the car at the Concours Paleis Het Loo as well as the Interclassic Show in Maastricht before driving it in the Tour Auto, the Ferrari Days at Spa-Francorchamps in 2000 as well as the 2nd Ferrari Tour Rallye Historic. Subsequent outings included another Tour Auto, the Mille Miglia, and the 2nd European Concours d’Elegance at Castle Schwetzingen. In 2002 the TdF joined the current owner’s collection. Following his purchase the TdF was once again prepared for vintage racing and unfortunately incurred damage during an outing at Moroso in Florida. Consequently, the Ferrari then underwent cosmetic repairs at Wayne Obry’s Motion Products in Neenah, Wisconsin. After receiving a bare-metal Motion Products paintjob, the car was back on the track in just two months. After competing four years in the Ferrari Challenge – and winning the Drum Brake Championship two years in a row – the owner elected to commission a complete engine rebuild at a cost of well over $100,000 by a noted marque specialist, whose work with V12 Ferraris is highly regarded. While the engine has been dyno tested, the car has not been driven since. In fact, the car recently received new brake shoes and liners and has been made street-ready by Precision Automotive Restoration of Newburyport, Massachusetts. Particularly notable is the lovely original interior, which displays a handsome patina commensurate with its storied history. It goes without saying that this car is eligible for all the great historic races and events around the world. Such cars rarely come to market and with breathtaking looks, fantastic performance and handling, they are certainly among the most coveted cars in Ferrari’s history and certainly the pinnacle of the marque’s drum-brake gran turismos.
Sold on the 19.01.2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Recherche par constructeur | |
|
|
| Recherche de véhicules de compétition | |
|
|
|
||
|
|
||