Ferrari 250 GT goes under the hammer
Saturday 18 August sees a true piece of automotive art go under the hammer as a 1956 Ferrari 250 GT LWB Berlinetta ‘Tour de France’ looks to find a new home, preferably one with a posh garage in a good neighbourhood.
Whilst by virtue of being a Ferrari you could safely assume a sense of exclusivity, add to that this 250GT is one of only nine ever built. Featured in the Hollywood classic, The Love Bug, this model was the very first of the second series 14-louver design.
The car features matching numbers which have been extensively documented as well as a complete Ferrari Classiche certification and received a class award at the 2011 Quail Motorsports Gathering.
The 250GT’s birth can be seen as a phoenix rising from the tragic ashes of the horrific 1955 Le Mans accident which claimed the lives of 80 people. In the aftermath of the accident the FIA responded by creating new gran turismo classes not only focusing on safety but also revitalising the spirit of racing roadbased production cars.
It would appear the planets had aligned in Ferrari’s favour as they had just debuted their new series production of the 250GT at the Geneva Motor Show of 1956. It was the chassis of this 250GT which would serve as the backbone of Ferrari’s completion car; the Berlinetta.
Pininfarina was charged with the design of a new lightweight body that was built by Scaglietti, using thin-gauge aluminium and Perspex windows and a minimally upholstered cabin. The series saw a total of 77 models being produced with subtle difference between the models creating subfamilies across the Berlinetta’s four year production run.
This particular Ferrari 250GT LWB ‘Tour de France’ has lived a life worthy of its own biography. Initially purchased on 15 November 1956, the car changed hands among a Los Angeles-based owners during the early-1960s before coming into the possession of Walt Disney Studios for use in the 1966 film ‘The Love Bug’, the celebrated Disney classic about “Herbie,” the racing VW Beetle with a soul.
However like most good reads, our 250GT went through a bit of a rough patch in life. The car was reportedly abandoned on a Los Angeles freeway at some stage before surfacing again in 1994 on sale in an unrestored state by David Cottingham’s DK Engineering in Watford, England.
Unable to sell 250GT for its true value DK engineering elected to totally restore the historically significant ‘Tour de France’. The restored 250GT was debuted at Coy’s International Historic Festival at Silverstone in July 1997. Silverstone proved to be the 250GT’s saving grace as it once again took prize place in a new owner’s garage. Yet once again the time has come for this tribute to automotive engineering to find a new home.
One of Ferrari’s greatest sports cars of all time, will surely draw a crowd and it will indeed be worthy of every bit of attention it gets.
First published in Autodealer KZN