Tag Archives: Colombo

Movie Star Limo – Ferrari 250 MM Pininfarina #0298MM

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.

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.

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.

#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.

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.

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

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 !

No Side Vent Windows – Ferrari 250 GT Pininfarina Series I Cabriolet

Manifattura Tessile Cotoniera, Milano – Ferrari 166MM #0022M

Additions And Corrections – Ferrari 166MM #0040M

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Having run well over 50 consecutive Ferrari Friday blog’s I have to confess I have temporarily run out of Ferrari’s to write about, however while I find some more I will recover some of the vehicles that I first blogged about on the much missed rowdy.com website, adding additional information and corrections where ever applicable in the light of new sources of information.

Only 25 166 MM’s were commissioned by Enzo Ferrari to be built by Carrozzeria Touring who built the roadsters nick named Brachetta’s (small boat) using the patented Superleggra technique of fixing aluminium alloy panels directly to a tubular space frame.

The cars featured a 135 hp 1992cc / 121 cui V12 single overhead cam all alloy engine designed by Gioacchino Colombo. Each cylinder has a displacement of 166 cc / 10 cui from which the model derives its 166 name the MM comes from Mille Miglia, the name of a 1000 mile road race from Brescia to Rome and back which the 166 MM won in 1949.

The 166 in various guises put Ferrari on the the sports car map, a 166 S being driven to victory in the 1948 Milie Miglia by Clemente Biondetti and Giuseppe Navine. In 1949 Biondetti repeated the feat at the wheel of a 166 MM (chassis 0008M) he shared with Ettore Salani.

The same #0008M chassis was then entered by Lord Selsdon, for the 24 hour Le Mans race, who let his team mate Luigi Chinetti drive for an amazing 23 (twenty three) hours en route to victory. Another 166MM, chassis #0010, with Luigi Chinetti and Jean Lucas sharing the driving went on to win the 1949 Spa 24 hour race.

Today’s featured car chassis #0040M vehicle was driven by Luigi Villoresi and Pasquale Cassani finished 12th overall in the 1950 Targa Florio. Note, some sources using “Targa Florio: 20th Century Epic” by Pino Fondi as reference material suggest that Villoresi did not finish, this is probably because Fondi only lists the top ten finishers.

Several weeks later chassis #0040M was entered in the 1950 Mille Miglia for Aldo Bassi with Aldo Berardi in the co drivers seat. The car left the road in wet conditions and hit a tree outside Ponte San Marco, Bassi succumbed to his injuries later that day.

After repairs which included a replacement body, Touring body #3453, the car went to Portugal where Vasco Sameiro is known to have driven it to 9th place in a race at Vila Real on June 20th 1950. The car remained in Portugal changing hands at least twice before turning up in the UK in 1973.

Ferrari 166 MM #0040M has been owned by the Mason-Styrron family since 1989 who have used it in many classic competitions since. #0040M was restored by the Ferrari factory prior to it’s appearance at the 2009 Goodwood Festival of speed where the car is seen here.

Thanks for joining me on this “Additions and Corrections” editions of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Same Body Bigger Motor – Ferrari 365 GTC

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In 1966 Ferrari launched the 330 GTC of which some 600 hundred were built up until 1968.

The body of the 365 GTC which replaced the 330 GTC in 1968 was almost identical apart from the absence of the large cooling ducts in the front wings/fenders which vented air from the engine bay.

Ferrari’s 4 litre / 244 cui V12 from the 330 cars was upgraded to a 4.4 litre / 268 cui V12 for the 365 series cars which increased the horsepower from 300 to 320.

One other significant difference between the 330 GTC and 365 GTC was that the later car had the gearbox moved from behind the motor to in front of the rear axle to improve the weight distribution.

Alloy wheels came as standard Borrani wire wheels were an optional extra.

This 1969 car has covered over 80,000 miles and is one of 150 that were built up until 1970 when it was superseded by the elegantly understated Ferrari 365 GTC/4.

28 04 12, date for your diary, this car and several others featured on ‘Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres’ over the past year was seen at the Bristol Italian Auto Moto Festival (BIAMF) last year. This years BIAMF event, the largest annual participatory automotive event in Bristol will be on Saturday April 28th. Event details can be found on the BAIMF website linked here. If your planing on going leave a message below or e-mail me see address at the very bottom of this page and we will see if we can’t organise a GALPOT meeting.

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

Engine Upgrade – Ferrari 365 GT 2+2

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Today for Ferrari Friday we are revisiting the Silverstone Classic where I saw this Ferrari 365 GT 2+2.

The 365 series of Ferrari’s appears outwardly similar to the 330 Series apart from some minor details the Pininfarina bodies of the two series can be difficult to tell apart.

However underneath the bonnet/hood the Colombo V12 engine had been upgraded from 4.0 litres / 244 cui to 4390 cc / 267 cui which would become best known for it’s application in the Ferrari 365 GTB/4 launched like the 365 GT 2+2 in 1968.

Between 1968 and 1970 around 800 365 GT 2+2’s were built with leather seats, electric windows and power assisted steering making the model one of Ferrari’s best selling models at the time.

This particular car appears to have been first registered between late 1970 to early 1971 possibly making it one of the last of the 54 Right Hand Drive 365 GT 2+2’s known to have been built.

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

Ferrari’s First F1 Design – Ferrari 125 F2 Spec #0114

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In 1948 Ferrari built his first dedicated 125 F1 Grand Prix cars known to conform with the set of rules known as formula one and entered three of them into the 1948 Italian Grand Prix, held at Valentino Park on the 5th of September. Frenchman Raymond Sommer brought his 125 F1 home in third place. The Ferrari 125 WAS NOT however the first Ferrari ever to be entered in a race run to formula one regulations.

The 125 F1 shared it’s 1.5 litre / 91.5 cui super charged V12 engine design, by Giocchino Colombo, with earlier successful Ferrari sports cars including the 166 series and the 125S series.

This particular chassis thought to have been built in 1949 for the factory racing team, appears to have been successfully raced with a normally aspirated 2 litre / 122 cui Colombo V12 to conform to the second tier Formula Two regulations in 1951 by Englishman Peter Whitehead in Europe and Australasia.

During the late 1950’s this chassis had a Chevy V8 installed which was replaced by a remanufactured 2 litre V12 when Tom Wheatcroft had it restored in the 1970’s for his Donington Collection where these photographs were taken.

The 125 F1 was not a great success against the older Alfa Romeo’s, which led Ferrari to build his next formula one cars with larger unsupercharged engines with which one of his cars would win Ferrari’s first championship formula one race in 1951.

Thanks for joining me on this 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 !

Gettin' A Li'l Psycho On Tyres

Art Tidesco blogs on all things motoring