mages

Here’s a little information about the beautiful 1963 Ferrari 250 GTO which was on display at the 2022 Concours of Elegance. One of our favourite cars of all time. You can see more Concours of Elegance news, reviews, videos and galleries here.

Of all the many legendary Ferraris, without question the most iconic is the 250 GTO.  Designed to take the fight to the AC Cobra, Jaguar E-type and Aston Martin DP214 in Group 3 GT racing, the car harnessed the talents of golden era Ferrari engineers such as Giotto Bizzarrini and Mauro Forghieri.

Though the car largely used tried and tested mechanicals, Bizzarrini employed the latest research from wind tunnel testing at Pisa University to craft a shape to beat the world’s best.  Rendered in aluminium by Scaglietti, the 250 GTO weighs between 880kg and 950kg, and is powered by a mighty 3.0-litre Colombo V12 producing 296bhp, sourced from the 250 Testa Rossa Le Mans victor.

This particular car is chassis 4219GT, which was originally sold to Mamie Spears Reynolds, the daughter of former USA senator Robert Reynolds and Evalyn McLean Roberts of the McLean mining company, which once owned the Hope Diamond. Luigi Chinetti not only sold the car, but gained a daughter-in-law- his son, Luigi ‘Coco’ Chinetti Jr, married Mamie in July 1963.  The car duly won that year’s Daytona 3-hour Continental with Pedro Rodríguez behind the wheel, and finished fourth in class and 13th overall at the ’63 Sebring 12 Hours with Joakim Bonnier and John Cannon driving.

Mamie’s ownership didn’t last long (neither did the marriage to Coco, which was over by 1965), with Buick and Ferrari dealer, Beverly Spencer, purchasing it in May 1963. He changed the original Rosso Cima paintwork to white with blue centre stripes, as he campaigned the 250 GTO as part of the North American Racing Team (NART).  The car was driven by Frank Crane at Laguna Seca, Pacific Raceway and Candlestick Park Raceway, notching up a podium and a class victory along the way.

By the end of 1963 Bev Spencer put the car up for sale again, advertising it for $14,000.  George C Dyer Snr of Hillsborough, California, bought the Ferrari early the following year and hung on to it until January 1993, when the current owner, a Mr Brandon Wang took stewardship.  Since then it’s been a regular at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, Tour de France Auto and Pebble Beach Concours.

The post The Beautiful 1963 Ferrari 250 GTO (#4219GT) appeared first on My Car Heaven.

Here’s a little information about the beautiful 1953 Bristol 404 Coupe which was on display at the 2022 Concours of Elegance. What a beautiful looking car. What lovely lines. A very odd fin at the back of the car. Have you ever seen a car like this. You can see more Concours of Elegance news, reviews, videos and galleries here.

Created in parallel with the Le Mans class-winning Bristol 450, the 404 was a showcase for the best technologies of the day and a rolling showcase of Bristol’s engineering principles.

Just 52 Bristol 404s were made and this is the first – the original prototype.  Prior to the current owner, there have been seven stewards of this fascinating car: the first, Sir George Stanley Middleton White, Chairman of Bristol Cars, who retained the car as his personal transport for over a decade.  He insisted that the fin remained in place, even though it was judged “a little too flamboyant” for Bristol’s typical clients. Indeed the current Sir George White fondly remembers being driven to and from prep school in RAE 345, with its huge rear fin, recalling that it dramatically elevated his kudos and street credibility among his schoolboy peers.

RAE 345 played a key role in testing the aero fin potential for the 450 racers and road-going 404s that followed.  The lower body mixed aluminium and steel, with a honeycomb sandwich construction for the rear floor, while the upper structure formed a canopy from a wooden framework and door pillars, with the whole encased in aluminium. The design for the nose of the car itself taken from the air intakes of the Brabazon Airliner – behind which sat eight 2650bhp engines, rather more than the 105bhp in the road car.

Aero engineering and racing nous found their way into the road cars – Bristol’s trademark installation of the spare wheel and battery in the front wings, first seen on the 404, were prompted by the desire to centralise mass, occupying the space created for the fuel tanks in the 450 racers.

This vehicle became a very familiar sight across Bristol’s huge Filton site because as well as Sir George’s daily transport, the car was used as a test bed and experimental platform.  It went to and from Bristol’s aeronautical and automotive engineering departments for engine upgrades, braking enhancements and other tweaks. All these developments were documented in the factory service records and many of the innovative parts fitted, such as the short-ratio gearbox, remain on the car to this day.

When the car eventually left the family in 1965 the fin was removed.  Fortunately the mounting brackets and internal structures remained, so with reference to many period images and drawings, and with the benefit of modern CAD technology, the fin was reinstated and constructed by hand in the traditional manner.

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