A tribute to the wonderful cars built in the Northern Italian town of Maranello.
Of all the Ferrari's I've seen this one has to be my all-time favorite.
It is a one-off, and was built in 1962 on a short-wheelbase 250GT chassis. Serial number 3659GT, it was the personal vehicle of Carrozzerie Bertone founder, Nuccio Bertone
and displayed at the 1962 Paris Auto show. There was a fine article on this car in the October, 1999 issue of Forza.
I love the styling cue of the split-nostril grille taken from the Formula-1 cars of that era, the light, sweeping greenhouse, and the vent grilles on the sides.
During the August 2015 Pebble Beach extravaganza, Gooding & Company hammered-down a $16.5M sale on this truly amazing one-off.
The car was put up for sale at the Gooding & Co. Pebble Beach auction this past August (2015) and changed hands for the sum of $16.5M. It is now offered for
sale on a British Web site .
Since there is only one 3659GT, I stand a better chance of someday owning one of these.
It is a 275 GTB/4 Scaglietti Spyder, of which only 10 were built. This is the same model
that commanded a record $27 million bid at auction during the 2013 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance week in August 2013.
It is also known as the NART spyder, as it was commissioned by Luigi Chinetti's North American Racing Team. There is an interesting article in
Motor Trend Classic, Dec 2006 issue
One connection to Ferrari that I have is my connection to the Garthwaite family. When I lived in Gladwyne, PA, one of
my friends was Wendy Garthwaite, whose father, Al, owned "Algar Enterprises" in Bryn Mawr, PA. At the time, I was not aware of
his relationship with Luigi Chinetti, who was the Ferrari importer for the US, and whose dealership I had visited a few times
when I was in New York in the early 60's. I learned later that they had a partnership in the Ferrari import venture. I visited
Wendy a few times at her home, and her father must have remembered me one evening at the Devon Horse Show in 1962, when I was
invited to ride around the show ring with him during the classic car parade in their SuperAmerica coupe. Quite a memorable
evening.
Another memorable experience was my trip to Sebring in 1962, when I witnessed the first outing of the amazing 250GTOs. Being
involved with the pit crew in the DB/Panhard team of Howard Hanna, I was able to capture some amazing photos of these cars
in action.
Here are some links to other Ferrari sites on the Web
Updated 08/21/2015
Back to Mark's Car Page.
Back to Mark's Home Page.
Back to Wizard's Home Page.
Ferraris!