Narrowing Down The Options

Ferrari 250 GT Pininfarina Cabriolet Series 2

A Glimmer Of Hope

Ferrari 250 GT Pininfarina Cabriolet S2

Formula One Power

Ferrari 342 America Pininfarina Cabriolet

Towards Standardisation - Ferrari 250 GT PF Cabriolet Series I #9811GT

A couple of weeks ago I looked at a Ferrari 250 GT Pininfarina Cabriolet Series 2 which is on view at the Haynes International Motor Museum.



Today's featured car, seen competing in the regularity competition on the recent Tour Britannia, is the earlier Series I model which is immediately distinguishable by it's recessed headlights and headlight covers. Notice the chromed edge on the bonnet / hood air intake belies the fact that this in essence a production road car.



This particular Right Hand Drive (RHD), car was delivered painted Yellow to a customer in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1957.



Only 40 examples of this model were built including 4 prototypes of which only two or three appear to have been built to RHD specification. This particular chassis appears to be the 15th in the production run. These models were far from standardised in the traditional sense.



There were for example two distinct variations of the stylised tail lights fitted to the Series I 250 GT PF Cabriolets.



Early examples of this model were supplied with 2 rear quarter bumpers to match the pair of front nudge bars however later examples such as the one seen above were supplied with full width items.



Hong Kong businessman Sir Michael Kadoorie became the owner of this vehicle in 1998, he and co pilot Brian Lewis were not classified in the overall Tour Britannica results. Sir Michael counts among his collection of vehicles a Type 57 Bugatti, a 1932 Rolls Royce Phantom II Thrupp & Maberly and a 1934 Hispano-Suiza J12 Van Vooren Cabriolet.

Thanks for joining me on today's Ferrari Friday edition of 'Gettin' a lil psycho on tyres' I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don't forget to come back now !

Wanting For Nothing Except A New Owner - Ferrari 330 GTC # 10653

Basking in the cool shade on a hot day at a Silverstone Press Event a couple of weeks a was this elegant Ferrari 330 GTC, though as we shall see less kind mortals than myself might have construed it's presence as a spoiler for a rival auction coming up at Goodwood Festival of Speed organised by Bonham's on the 1st of July.



Should one of the tyres on the four, originally optional, fetching Borrani wheels deflate this vehicle comes with a jacking bag to facilitate wheel changes.



Introduced in 1966 the Ferrari 330 was in production while it's predecessor the 275 GTB/4, with which it shared a common chassis features including wheelbase dimensions, oval tube construction and rear mounted gearbox attached to a transaxle, was still in production, both models went out of production in 1968, around 600 of the larger engine 330 models were manufactured.



The Pininfarina bodywork is a master class in simple, sexy, sixties elegance from just about any angle.



Not at all sure how the fuel cap works but it's hard to imagine it operation will be any less elegant than it's design.



This particular vehicle was originally imported to the United States in June 1968 and sold through US importer Chinetti after spending 20 years in New York it moved to sunnier climes with a new owner resident in Florida and thence back to Italy. This car was bare metal restored in Switzerland in 2001 and sold to a Dutch Collector with whom it remained until it's present owner acquired the car in 2009.



The car has been fitted with a 300 hp 4 litre / 244 cui Colombo V12 motor #07433 of the correct type, though originally installed in a 330 2+2.

As the man from Bonham's says this car want's for nothing except a new owner.

My thanks to Jonathan Gill of mpacreative, who facilitated my visit to Silverstone, don't forget Silverstone Auctions sponsors of the forthcoming Silverstone Classic Weekend will be holding their own Silverstone Classic Sale on July 23rd.

Thanks for joining me on today's elegant Pininfarina edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres', I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don't forget to come back now !

Pininfarina Renaissance - FIAT 130 Coupé

Returning to the Bristol Italian Auto Moto Festival back in April today's car is the stylish sharp edged FIAT 130.



Launched to much acclaim at the 1971 Geneva Motor show the FIAT 130 Coupé was designed by Paolo Martin at Pininfarina and won a design prize which marked a renaissance for a company that had fallen from favour since it's heyday designing the Fiat 1800 Peugeot 404 and Austin A55 and A60 concepts for large volume producers in the late 50's and early 60's.

This smart new vehicle was powered by a 165 hp 3235 cc / 197 cui twin over head cam V6 designed by Aurelio Lamperdi designer of the original 4 cylinder Testa Rossa engine.



Just 4,294 examples of the FIAT 130 Coupé were produced from 1971 to 1977, this marked the end of FIAT's presence in the Executive end of the automotive market, future vehicles for this market segment were handled by the Lancia marque which was also owned by the FIAT conglomerate.

Thanks for popping in to today's Paolo Martin styled edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres', I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don't forget to come back now !

Outlaw Racer - Ferrari 365 GTB/4

Launched in 1968 the Ferrari 365 GTB/4 replaced the Ferrari 275 GTB/4 and to this writers mind represents the pinnacle of front engine rear wheel drive fastback GT cars. Until outlawed by US legislation in 1971 the 365 GTB/4 came with headlights mounted behind acrylic glass covers.



This most stylish of vehicles is powered by a 347 hp Lamperdi inspired twin overhead cam 60º V12 stretched to 4390 cc / 268 cui motor, each cylinder with a volume of 365 cc from which the model gets its name.



To optimise the weight balance and handling the gearbox is mounted as part of a transaxle just in front of the rear wheels.



As one would of expect of a vehicle this cool to look at it has performance to match being capable of reaching 60 mph from rest in 5.4 seconds with a top speed of 174 mph.



Competition versions of the 365 GTB/4 run by privateers with up to 450 hp counted amongst their successes a GT class winning 5th overall at Le Mans in 1971 along with GT Class wins in the same race in '72, '73, and '74 scoring 1st to 5th in class in '72, and five years after production of the model had ceased an amazing 2nd overall in the Daytona 24 hour race.

Dan Gurney and Brock Yates also drove a 365 GTB/4 2,876 miles from New York to Los Angeles averaging 80.1 mph to win the inaugural Cannonball Baker Sea-To-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash in 1971.



It is thought just 1,406 of these cars designed by Leonardo Fiorvanti of Pininfarina and built by Scaglietti including 122 Spiders and 15 lightweight competition vehicles. The high desirability of the rare Spiders has led to several Berlinetta models being converted and several companies have made Spider replicas with a variety of engines.

The 365GTB/4 was replaced by the rear engined 365 GT4 Berlinetta Boxer.

I hope you have enjoyed today's Outlaw Racer edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres' and that you will join me again tomorrow. Don't forget to come back now !

Too Dangerous To Race - Ferrari GTO

The Ferrari (288) GTO was designed to meet the 4 litre Group B regulations for rallying and racing sports cars which came into effect in 1982 .



To be homologated, granted approval, to compete in the liberal loose Group B classes of rallys and races 200 identical examples of a model had to be manufactured.



From 1984 - 1986 272 examples of the Ferrari 288 GTO were manufactured with a view to competing against the similar, albeit fitted with 4 wheel drive, Porsche 959/961.



The 288 GTO was loosely based on the Ferrari 308 GTB though the rear bodywork was extended to incorporate the engine which was now longitudinally mounted rather than transversely mounted as in the 308 GTB.



Pininfarina designed body panels for the 288 GTO were manufactured from a combination of fibreglass, aluminium and F1 technology Kevlar however in the interests of safety the door panels were made of steel.



With four hundred horsepower available, in road trim, from the twin turbo charged 2855 cc / 174 cui V8 it is regrettable that the 288 GTO never saw any competitive action as a result of the Group B regulations being deemed to dangerous for competition after a number of fatalities in Group B rally events during 1986. By 1987 the Group B regulations and even more lax Group S regulations had been suspended in the interests of safety.

This 1985 model, known officially as a Ferrari GTO but often called 288 GTO to distinguish it from other Ferrari GTO models, is seen at the recent Italian Auto Moto Festival in Bristol.

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

Body Kit Special - Ferrari 599tc GTB Fiorano

The Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano was introduced in 2006 as the brands two seat flagship.



It was Styled by Pininfarina under the direction of Frank Stephenson who lists the new MINI, BMW X5 and McLaren MP4 -12C in his portfolio.



The 599 GTB is powered by a 612 hp 5999 cc / 366 cui V12 making it the most powerful road car to leave the Ferrari factory.



However for some that is not enough, so far as I can work out, from the silver body kit this example may have had some tuning by the Dutch Novitec Russo company who offer an 800 hp twin supercharger upgrade.




The standard 612 hp car will get from rest to 62 mph in 3.7 secs, reach 100 mph in 7.4 seconds



and 160 mph in 19 seconds.



Top speed for the standard car is 205 mph.



Presumably the 'tc' designation on the side of this car indicates this particular vehicle will represent an opportunity to improve on the standard performance figures.



Looking back, from my seat in the peanut gallery, it is hard to believe anybody would want such a car in any colour except Ferrari Russo, but I guess it takes all sorts.

Hope you have enjoyed today's body kit special edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres' and that you will join me again tomorrow. Don't forget to come back now !

Louder Option On Demand - Ferrari 360 Spider

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



The aggressive timeless lines were drawn up by Pininfarina.



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.



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



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



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.



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 !

Intelnet Carceaology Detective Agency - Ferrari 375 Pininfarina America

Today's Ferrari Friday blog is a real team effort and I'd like to start by thanking four people without whom you would be staring at a funky photo of a Meridian Bridge in Spain. First thanks must go to the amazing Mr Ed Arnaudin who took today's photograph nearly 54 years ago in 1957, second thanks must go to Ed's son Steve who took the time and patience to sort through his Dad's slides scan them and then send them to me 3,500 miles away.

Third there are two people at Ferrari Chat who deserve a special mention, first Kare in Helsinki Finland for having the patience to answer each of my dumb *ss questions before convincing myself that what he said in the first place id correct and finally special thanks must go to Boudewijn Berkhoff who took it upon himself to bring a faded 54 year old slide back to life.



Ed's photo is not the easiest to analyse because if you search Google Images you'll find several vehicles similar but frustratingly with completely different names in particular the 250 Pininfarina Europa and the 375 Pininfarina America.

This only makes sense when one learns that in 1953 Ferrari launched two cars one at the European market the 250 Europa with a 3 litre 183 CUI Colombo designed short block V12 and the other aimed at the US market with a later 4.5 litre 274 CUI Aurelio Lambredi designed long block V12, both cars looked more or less identical with body work by Pininfarina, however they were not assembled on a production line so each differed from the other with varying degrees of obviousness.

In all 21 Europa's were built mostly with Pininfarina bodies while 45 300 hp 150 mph 375's were built from 1953 to 1955, just 8 of those 45 had Pininfarina bodies and one of those was a one off coupe with a wrap around windsceen which makes the car in Ed's photo just one of seven. But which one ?

Once the car model was identified it was relatively easy to find out the whereabouts of those seven Pininfarina bodied cars today; three are red, one is two tone silver, another is silver but with a much larger chrome grill, one is green, another blue and the last is black.

Thanks to the aforementioned Kare I found out that the black 375 was originally grey with red interior delivered bearing the chassis number #0319AL to a Mr Carpenter. Thanks to Tom Roland we have 21st September 1957 as the probable date this photo was taken.

I'd also like to thank Aardy, tx246, Motob, of2worlds, and Ed Niles for chipping in with opinions that hopefully has seen an approximation of the truth emerge.

Hope you have enjoyed today's detective mystery trip in an extremely rare motor car and that you'll join me in thanking everyone who helped make today's blog possible.

Join me again tomorrow for a look at another Italian vehicle photographed by Ed, don't forget to come back now !

A Spider for the sqeamish ! - Fiat 124 Spider

Way back in the Dark Ages I learned to drive in a Fiat 124 Special T, the car I'd rather have been driving is the shorter wheelbase 124 Spider.



With body work designed by Pininfarina the Spider was introduced in 1966 and production continued until 1985.



This particular model was sold as the 2000 Spider between 1979 and 1982 before production moved from Fiat to Pininfarina for three final years.

Thanks to everyone who has joined me this week, wishing you all a fabulous weekend, don't Forget to come back now !