Tag Archives: Pininfarina

Ferrari Concours Highlights – Goodwood Festival Of Speed

There were enough Ferrari’s present on the lawn at Goodwood House during the Festival of House for another short run of Ferrari Friday blogs, here is a preview of what is to come in future weeks.

Ferrari 212 Inter Vignale Cabriolet, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

From 1952 above is a Ferrari 212 Inter Vignale cabriolet that was erroneously labelled as having belonged to British Actor David Niven and incorrectly labelled as a short wheel base 1952 Ferrari 212 Export with a Cabriolet body by Vignale.

Ferrari 212 Vignale Coupé, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

One year later Vignale built this Coupé on the longer Inter chassis #0267EU and displayed it at the Turin Auto Show before selling is to Jean-Louis Lafourcade in France.

Ferrari 250 GT Zagato, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

Surprisingly Zagato only built bodies for six Ferrari’s during the 1950’s, I believe the 1957 250GT seen above was originally fitted with a Ellena Coupé body until 1989 when Zagato were commissioned to fit a the Double Bubble body seen above.

Ferrari 500 Superfast, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

The 1965 Ferrari 500 Superfast chassis s/n 6659SF above was purchased by property tycoon Sir Eric Merton Miller in 1966, 11 years later he committed suicide after being served with four writs seeking restitution of funds he had allegedly misappropriated.

Ferrari 330GT Vignale Shooting Brake, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

When Desy the original owner of the 1965 Ferrari 330GT seen above sold the car back to Chinetti Motors in New York in 1967 Luigi’s son Coco and commercial artist Bob Peak came up with the idea for Vignale to fit the car with this unique Shooting Brake body, subsequently it was taken to the 50th Annual Turin Motor Show and currently belongs to Singer Jay Kay.

Ferrari P4/5 By Pininfarina, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

Finally James Glickenhaus’s unique Ferrari P4/5 by Pininfarina has already been featured on this blog, but seeing it in the flesh myself for the first time confirmed it was probably well worth every cent of the $4,000,000 (USD Four Million) it cost the lucky owner.

Thanks for joining me on this “Ferrari Concours Highlights” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at another Formula Junior racer. Don’t forget to come back now !

Kenyan National Champion – Lancia Rally 037

In 1982 the FIA mandated new rules for sports car racing and rallying called Group B which allowed manufacturers to compete with any vehicle they had built 200 examples of, further more evolutions of these models were permitted each year so long as 20 examples had been built.

Lancia Rally 037, Race Retro, Stoneleigh,

The category never really took off in racing with only Porsche and Ferrari building legible cars and only Porsche racing a works example on a limited schedule, but in for rallying Group B proved popular amongst manufacturers including Lancia, Audi, Austin Rover, Ford, Peugeot and Porsche, who all built models to compete in the Group B category.

Lancia Rally 037, Race Retro, Stoneleigh,

With the career of the successful FIAT 131 Abarth at an end the FIAT Group turned to Abarth to develop a vehicle loosely based on the Lancia Beta Montecarlo / Scorpion mid engined coupé.

Lancia Rally 037, Race Retro, Stoneleigh,

Abarth working with Pininfarina and Dallara under project manager Sergio Limone used the central floor pan of the Beta Montecarlo with subframes fitted front and rear as the basis of their new Group B contender.

Lancia Rally 037, Race Retro, Stoneleigh,

The 2 litre / 122 cui twin cam motor from the three time World Rally Championship winning FIAT 131 Abarth was upgraded by fitting a Volumex supercharger which brought the power up to 285 hp, but more importantly significantly improved the throttle response over turbocharged motors. The engine was fitted longitudinally, on the original Montecarlo’s the motor was transversely mounted, and drove only the rear wheels.

Lancia Rally 037, Race Retro, Stoneleigh,

The Olio Fiat backed Lancia Rally 037 made it debut in 1982 but recorded only two finishes from 9 starts. However in 1983 the now Martini sponsored team recorded 5 wins from the 6 events it started, four to Walter Rörhl and one to Makku Alén, enough to secure the 1983 World Rally Championship for Lancia, the last such win for a rear wheel drive car, but not enough to secure the drivers championship for Walter who left the team at the end of the season to join Audi.

Lancia Rally 037, Race Retro, Stoneleigh,

The #17 seen in these photographs was built in 1983 and is believed to have been used by Attilio Bettega during that season in Europe before being shipped to Kenya in 1984 in preparation for the Safari Rally.

Lancia Rally 037, Race Retro, Stoneleigh,

Vic Preston Jnr, returned to the Martini fold to drive the car to a win in a Kenyan national championship round in preparation for the Safari on which he finished 6th in the same car with John Lyall.

Lancia Rally 037, Race Retro, Stoneleigh,

Subsequently Vic and John won the 1984 Kenyan National Rally Championship with the car after recording 10 wins from 12 events.

The car remained in Kenya and for the 1986 Safari Rally the Martini Lancia team prepared it with the latest 325hp 2,111 cc 128.8 cui motor with water injection to cool the supercharged air for John Hillier and David Williamson who recorded a 10th place finish.

Current owner David Kedward bought the car in Kenya and imported it to the UK.

Thanks for joining me on this “Kenyan National Champion” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a BRM. Don’t forget to come back now !

Fifth Gen Facelift – Maserati Quattroporte V

The fifth generation Maserati Quattroporte, M139, was launched in 2003 and went into production in 2004.

Maserati Quattroporte, BIAMF, Bristol,

The Pininfarina face lifted M139 model appeared in January 2008 with redesigned bumpers, sills, side mirrors, a convex front grille with vertical bars, new headlights and tail lights with directional bi-xenon main beams and LED indicator lights.

Maserati Quattroporte, BIAMF, Bristol,

The weight of the steel body is kept low by use of an aluminium boot lid / trunk lid and bonnet / hood, the aerodynamic co efficient of the body is Cd 0.35.

Maserati Quattroporte, BIAMF, Bristol,

Three V8 motor options were available for the 2008 to 2012 Quattroportes with power outputs from 400 to 440 hp.

Maserati Quattroporte, BIAMF, Bristol,

60 mph could be reached in under six seconds from rest by all three variants likewise the top speed was at least 168 mph for all three.

Maserati Quattroporte, BIAMF, Bristol,

As we saw last week Swiss Team built an EVO competition version which Andrea Bertolini drove to a championship victory in the 2011 International Superstars Series.

Thanks for joining me on this “Fifth Gen Facelift” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

In Just Seven Days – Ferrari 365 GTB/4

Born in 1938 Leonardo Fioravanti specialised in studying aerodynamics and car body design at the Politecnico di Milano.

Ferrari 365GTB/4, Classic Motor Show, NEC, BirminghamFerrari 365GTB/4, Classic Motor Show, NEC, Birmingham

Aged 26 he joined Pininfarina as stylist in 1964, he remained with the company for 24 years eventually becoming the Managing Director before leaving to found his own styling studio Fioravanti in 1991.

Ferrari 365GTB/4, Classic Motor Show, NEC, Birmingham

Along with responsibilities for designing today’s featured 1970 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 model Leonardo is credited with involvement with the design of the Ferrari 246 Dino, 365 GTC/4, 512 Berlinetta Boxer, 308 GTB and 288 GTO.

Ferrari 365GTB/4, Classic Motor Show, NEC, Birmingham

During a television interview Leonardo confirmed the rumour that he designed the 365 GTB/4 in just seven days.

Ferrari 365GTB/4, Classic Motor Show, NEC, Birmingham

This particular 1970 RHD car was given this particular registration on the 23rd May 2012. The headlights mounted behind acrylic glass feature was outlawed by US vehicle regulations in 1971.

After over two hundred Ferrari Friday blogs this feature is going to be rested for a couple of month’s until June. The reason is purely because I can no longer find a Ferrari a week to write about, my thanks to Jr Cracker who first suggested this feature in November 2010.

Thanks for joining me on this “In Just Seven Days” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow for a military adventure. Don’t forget to come back now !

A Bit Rorty – Ferrari 330 GTC #11333

Today’s featured right hand drive 4 litre / 244 cui V12 powered Ferrari 330 GTC was built in 1968.

Ferrari 330 GTC, Classic Motor Show, NEC, Birmingham,

It appears to have been with the current owner for nearly 35 years, the only interior non 1968 factory spec item the owner has fitted to this car is a 12 Volt outlet which he describes as more ‘necessary today than it would have been in 1968’.

Ferrari 330 GTC, Classic Motor Show, NEC, Birmingham,

Amazingly the owner has the original two sets of three keys with ivory coloured plastic covers over the heads and the Pininfarina ‘PF’ logo moulded in to them.

Ferrari 330 GTC, Classic Motor Show, NEC, Birmingham,

Soon after he bought the car the present owner had Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) Ansa Chrome exhaust tips fitted which gave the engine a concomitant ‘quiet purr’.

Ferrari 330 GTC, Classic Motor Show, NEC, Birmingham,

Some years later when the car was being resprayed the bodyshop left the car outside for two or three weeks in wet weather causing the Ansa tips to corrode. The exhaust pipes and tips were replaced with stainless steel items that have lasted for 30 years, but they sound ‘a bit rorty’.

Thanks for joining me on this “A Bit Rorty” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow for a South American adventure in an Austin Seven. Don’t forget to come back now !

Sculpture On Wheels – Maserati Alfieri

The Maserati Alfieri is a concept car which refers to the history, traditions and roots of the brand while projecting it’s future in Maserati’s centenary in year.

Maserati Alfieri, Goodwood Festival of Speed

The Alfieri name pays tribute to the engineer Alfieri Maserati who with his brothers Bindo, Carlo, Ettore, and Ernesto founded Societa Anonima Officine Alfieri Maserati in 1914.

Maserati Alfieri, Goodwood Festival of Speed

The underlying inspiration that set the mood of the Centenary Alfieri concept car was the Pininfarina bodied Maserti A6GCS 54.

Maserati Alfieri, Goodwood Festival of Speed

A team of around 15 designers, led by former Pininfarina employee Marco Tencone, was responsible for the styling of the Alfieri.

Maserati Alfieri, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Beneath the Alfieri body work is a chassis based on a shortened Maserati GranTurismo MC Stradale chassis.

Maserati Alfieri, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Power for this concept car comes from a Ferrari derived 4.7 litre / 286 cui V8 producing 460 hp.

Maserati Alfieri, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Since it’s first viewing at Geneva earlier this year Maserati have announced plans to put the Alfieri into production for 2016 with a convertible to follow in 2017.

Thanks for joining me on this “Sculpture On Wheels” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Ferrari Friday – San Marino Motor Classic

For the final visit to this years San Marino Motor Classic today’s featured marque is, unsurprisingly Ferrari.

Ferrari 250 GT PF Coupé Speciale, San Marino Motor Classic

Oldest of the Ferrari’s in this years show and winner of the
Art Center College of Design Award, was this Ferrari 250 GT Pininfarina Coupé Speciale. Built in 1956 with a 410 Superamerica body the car was delivered new to a descendent of FIAT’s Agnelli family who coincidentally was also member of the FIAT boardroom.

Ferrari 250 GT PF Cabriolet S2, San Marino Motor Classic

Looking at the entry list which names only the entrant, marque and date and other resources it appears the vehicle above is a 1960 Ferrari 250 GT Pininfarina Cabriolet Series 2.

Ferrari 250 GT Coupe PF, San Marino Motor Classic

I’m much less certain as to the identity of the vehicle above it’s definitely one of 351 Ferrari 250 GT Pininfarina Coupé’s. The combination of repeater light, absence of optional bonnet scoop and drivers side only door mirror lead me to believe this particular vehicle may have been built for a US Serviceman from Chicago who kept the car for 16 years.

Ferrari 250 GT/L, San Marino Motor Classic

Winner of the Pasadena Humane Society Award was the 1964 Ferrari 250 GT/L belonging to Alan & Wendy Hart, a car originally delivered to a customer in Belgium.

Ferrari 365 GTS/4, San Marino Motor Classic

There were only 122 Ferrari 365 GTS/4’s built but I have not been able to link the owner of this 1973 example on the entry list to any particular chassis of the many with yellow bodies and Borrani wheels.

Ferrari F40, San Marino Motor Classic

It will also take a historian far more capable than me to tell you which of the 1,315 F40’s, like the 1990 example above, this is.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton and Paul McNabb for sharing their photographs.

Thanks for joining me on this “Ferrari Friday” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at some details from last month’s Avenue Drivers Club meeting. Don’t forget to come back now !