In 1952 British born Paris based clothing tailor John McFadden ordered a new left hand drive Ferrari 212 Inter Vignale Cabriolet.

For reasons that are not at all clear it appears Ferrari attempted to deliver a right hand drive example of the same model, #0227EL which John refused to accept.

To rectify the problem Ferrari changed, restamped, the chassis number of today’s featured left hand drive (LHD) Ferrari 212 inter Vignale Cabriolet from #0255EU to #0227EL and at the same time changed the chassis number of the original from #0227EL to #0255EU.

Today’s featured car #0227EL(0255EU) was the only LHD example 212 Inter Vignale Cabriolet of the total of four built, when it was delivered it carried black bumpers that were chromed by David G. Seibert in Atlanta during his period of ownership between 1978 and 1980.

#0227EL (#0255EU) features a unique single rear seat on the passenger side which allows anyone traveling on it to put their feet behind the drivers seat.

Now for some myth busting, no evidence has ever been seen in the public domain that this car was ever owned by suave British actor David Niven; as was claimed by the blurb pertaining to this car at Goodwood Festival of Speed and elsewhere on the internet.

Nor is this car a short wheel base Vignale Export Cabriolet model as clearly incorrectly labelled at Goodwood, only 2 such cars were built, chassis #0106E and #0110E, and neither of them is known to have belonged to David Niven either.

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