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What Goes Around (Slight Reprise) – Ferrari 250 MM Vignale #0260MM

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I first looked at today’s featured Vignale bodied Ferrari 250 MM #0260MM in June 2011, but since Geoffrey Horton was kind enough to send me some more recent photo’s of it I can indulge you with a few snippets of additional information that have come to light.

Ferrari 250 MM Vignale, Blackhawk Museum

Phil Hill sold the car after he had raced it 5 times from new to Charles Brown of Monroe Los Angeles. While the car was in Charlies care he entered it for William Jarnigan to drive in a couple of races run at Bergstrom Air Force Base (AFB) in March 1954, William repaid his owners faith with 2 class wins coming 4th overall on both occasions.

Ferrari 250 MM Vignale, Blackhawk Museum

In July 1954 Charles finished 3rd in class at Offutt AFB coming home 8th overall. In October 1954 the motor was recorded as having been rebuilt at the Ferrari factory.

Ferrari 250 MM Vignale, Blackhawk Museum

The next recorded owner is Ernie Miller of New Orleans, Los Angeles who is known to have raced the car on at least one occasion in the Hammond Grand Prix where Ernie is recorded as having finished 3rd overall in what is thought to be #0260MM’s last in period competitive appearance.

Ferrari 250 MM Vignale, Blackhawk Museum

Allen S Bishop is credited with restoring #0260MM between 1972 and 1975, after which original owner Phil Hill was reunited with the car for a classic race at Monterey in 1984 from which he car was retired.

Ferrari 250 MM Vignale, Blackhawk Museum

It is believed that #0260MM fetched US$ 1.2 million from an anonymous purchaser in 1995. Phil Hill was reunited again with the car at Monterey in August 2001, though no race results for that particular reunion appear to have been recorded.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for sharing these photographs taken at the Blackhawk Museum late last year.

Thanks for joining me on this “What Goes Around (Slight Reprise)” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow for a look at a Crusader built in Washington…. Co Durham. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Nothing Better – Ferrari 250MM Pininfarina Berlinetta #0353 MM (0239 EU)

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After beating Phil Hill on the second stage of the 1952 Carrera Panamerica Mexican hot shot Efrian Ruiz Echeverria skidded of the road while in 10th place overall on the third, of five, stage of the race in his Ferrari 212 Inter Berlinetta chassis #0239 EU.

Ferrari 250 MM, Goodwood Festival of Speed

He sent the car back to Ferrari for repairs and while it was there Efrian asked if the factory would build him a Ferrari 250MM like the one used by Giovanni Bracco which had proved to be the fastest car in the 1952 Carrera Panamerica field although transmission failure 300 miles from the finish handed a 1-2 victory to the Mercedes Benz Team.

Ferrari 250 MM, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Ferrari were happy to oblige going so far as swapping the identity from Efrian’s old 212 Inter #0239EU to that of the new 250MM chassis #0353MM at the owners request so that import duty would not have to be paid on the new car.

Ferrari 250 MM, Goodwood Festival of Speed

The 1953 Panamerica entry list included five works Lancia’s with Juan Manuel Fangio in the lead car and five non works Ferrari’s. Fangio led a 1/2/3 finish for the Lancia Team and Efrian came in as first privateer in 7th place. A result that remains the best for any Mexican driver in the original series of Carrera Panamerica races run from 1950 to 1954.

Ferrari 250 MM, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Thanks to William (WDH74) at The Nostalgia Forum I have found out what the meaning of the legend “Como 123 no hay dos” which appears to be a sponsors strap line on the bonnet of the car. “No hay dos” translates to “nothing better” from Mexican in this case nothing better than products from sponsor Industrias 1-2-3 owned by Santiago Ontanon who’s products include vegetable cooking oil and laundry detergent.

Ferrari 250 MM, Goodwood Festival of Speed

The 1953 Carrera Panamerica was #0353 MM (0239 EU)’s only in period competitive outing, the car passed through various hands and 3 restorations later the car is seen above at Goodwood Festival of Speed where it was entered by Nick Mason for his wife Annette to drive.

Ferrari 250 MM, Goodwood Festival of Speed

My thanks to WDH74, Arjan de Roos, Doug Nye, Regazzoni and Tmeranda at The Nostalgia Forum for lessons in Mexican and Mexican house hold product marketing.

Thanks for joining me on this “Nothing Better” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a Lotus rally car project. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Movie Star Limo – Ferrari 250 MM Pininfarina #0298MM

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The 31 1953 Ferrari 250 MM chassis built could be specified with open barchetta body or Berlinetta closed body styles most, but by no means all of the open bodies were built by Vignale and the most but by no means all of the closed bodies were built by Pininfarina.

Ferrari 250 MM PF Berlinetta, Goodwood Revival,

Of course being hand built no two bodies are identical and today’s featured Pininfarina Berlinetta body sitting on chassis #0298, has a slightly longer nose than any of it’s siblings, a fore taste of the pontoon Ferraris that were to follow at the end of the decade perhaps.

Ferrari 250 MM PF Berlinetta, Goodwood Revival,

With a 3 litre / 183 cui 237 hp version of Gioacchino Colombo V12 under the bonnet/hood the intention was that these cars were built to be raced, and the likes of Phil Hill, José A. Nogueira Pinto, Luigi Villoresi, Paolo Marzotto, Eugenio Castellotti, Giulio Musitelli, Luigi Piotti and Casimiro de Oliveira all drove 250 MM in Barchetta and Berlinetta forms to victory lane during 1953.

Ferrari 250 MM PF Berlinetta, Goodwood Revival,

#0298MM was purchased by Luigi Giuliano for 3.5 million lira in 1953 and a year later passed through two further owners Incom SpA and Industrie Cinematografiche Sociali, the later is reported to have used the car for chauffeuring movie stars.

Ferrari 250 MM PF Berlinetta, Goodwood Revival,

In May 1955 this car was acquired by Giovanni Ghersi in San Remo for ‘just’ 2.5 million lira. The car is not thought to have been raced at all until it was acquired by German Herbert Ibing in 1984.

Ferrari 250 MM PF Berlinetta, Goodwood Revival,

Since then the car has appeared at many historic events including those at Goodwood, reruns of the Mille Miglia, Nurburgring, Monaco and Monza.

Ferrari 250 MM PF Berlinetta, Goodwood Revival,

Arnold Meier of Zurich has been the owner of the car since 2002 and was sharing the driving with former British Hill Climb Champion David Franklin when the car was photographed at the recent Goodwood Revival meeting. Starting last on the grid Arnold and David managed a 17th place finish, note for some reason the 33 entry in the Freddie March Trophy is listed as a Mitter BMW in the results of the meeting.

Thanks for joining me on this “Movie Star Limo” 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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What goes around – Ferrari 250 MM Vignale #0260MM

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The Ferrari 250 MM was launched with a tube frame chassis carrying a 237 hp V12 in 1953 weighing just 850 kgs / 1874 lbs.

Ferrari 250MM, Vignale

Phil Hill, who is pictured here by Geoffrey Horton at Danville Concours d’Elegance in 2007 was supplied with this vehicle by US Ferrari importer Luigi Chinetti and drove the Vignale bodied 250MM to victories at Pebble Beach and Santa Barbara in 1953 and scored a class victory at Stead AFB Reno, Nevada the same year.

There after the car was sold and continued to be raced up until at least 1957 before resurfacing on the Concours circuit, at Pebble Beach in 1983. Phil appears to have driven the car competitively for the last time at the Monterey Historic races in 1984.

For the 2007 Danville Concours d’Elegance, an annual event which raises money for the Parkinson’s Institute and Clinical Center, Sunnyvale, California, Phil’s former employers Road & Track created the Phil Hill Trophy for the winner of the Concours event.

Phil, who suffered from and died as a result of complications from Parkinson’s disease, may have been understandably a little biased when he selected the Vignale 250MM car he had once owned and raced to victory to be the inaugural winner of the trophy named after him.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton who kindly sent me this image.

Thanks for stopping by today’s Phil Hill Trophy edition on ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now!

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