In 1933 inventor Luigi De Ponti patented his design for an aluminium stove top coffee maker known as the Moka Pot for Alfonso Bialetti who sold 70,000 of them locally in Italy up until the start of ’39-’45 war.

In 1946 Alfonso’s son Renato took over the business and focused it’s attention entirely on manufacturing and marketing the Moka Express so that by 2001 over 220 million units had been sold.

In 1960 Renato paid 5.5 million Lira for today’s featured Ferrari 250 GT SWB Competizione chassis #1608 which was delivered appropriately enough for someone involved in the coffee industry painted white with a black interior.

Chassis #1905 has no known in period competition history and it was sold to it’s fifth owner RM’s Scottsdale auction in January 2013 for US$18.14 million including buyers premium.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for sharing today’s photograph which was taken at Concours on the Avenue in Carmel by the Sea in 2011.

Thanks for joining me on this “Moka Express” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I be looking at a cabriolet built by Bertone. Don’t forget to come back now !