Ferrari 250 GT Coupe 1958-1960

From [B]Ferrari: A Complete Guide to All Models[/B] by Leonardo Acerbi
[QUOTE]Ferrari 250 GT Coupe by Pininfarina, which revived a model launched in 1954 and was shown for the first time in Milan in 1958, went from artisan-type construction to semi-industrialised production. The 335 cars produced between 1958 and 1960 represented an extraordinary leap forward in Maranellos's manufacturing capability, especially for a company that usually produced just under 100 cars a year up until that moment, either as one-offs or a few examples of a single model on reguest.

To fit in with this change of direction, the 250 GT Coupe was designed from the outset along lines that would result in greater simplicity than the Ferraris previously built by Pinin Farina, who had also made elegance and simplicity inescapable elements. After the first two experimental prototypes, each with panoramic rear window, the definite 250 GT Coupe emerged as extremely classical car, with a traditionally long and narrow radiator grill, portruding optical groups and a windscreen that more or less had the inclination of the rear window, all of which gave the car great equilibrium. The flanks, the lower part of which had a light dihedral line, were devoid of any other disturbing elements.

As with the previous 250 Grand Tourer, the 1958 coupe was also powered by the 2953 cc V12 engine fed by three Weber 36DCZ3 carburettors and generated around 240 hp. Given its touring vocation and not being a car destined to become a racer, the 250 GT Coupe wasn't fitted with disc brakes until 1960. Its rear suspension had telescopic dampers of a new conception, rather than the traditional Houdailles, to make it a safer and more comfortable to drive.[/QUOTE]

Chassis no. 1233GT, was sold new through the Venezuelan Ferrari importer Carlos Kauffmann in Caracas to the first owner, an engineer named Staccioli. Later, the car returned to Italy.

Chassis no. 1255GT

On May 14,1959, it was sold new to first owner Giorgio Perucchetti of Rome, Italy. In June 1959 it was road registered 'ROMA 350390' and on April 28, 1960, the car was sold to second owner Gianfranco Enzico of Genoa. He had it re-registered 'GE 132789' on May 20, 1960, and on February 20, 1961, it passed to third owner Mario Candrini of Modena, its declared purchase price being Lire 1,000,000. On March 2, 1961, it was re-registered in Modena as 'MO 63529' and soon after it was repainted red and fitted with black interior. On February 14, 1969, the Italian Automobile Club cancelled the Modena registration and license plates, using a term often applied to cars that had been exported. In the 1970s it was plainly acquired by Fabrizio Violati to join the personal collection which became his Collezione Maranello Rosso, on public display within the Republic of San Marino.

Chassis no. 1409GT

According to marquee historian Marcel Massini, chassis number ‘1409GT’ was delivered new in Italy to a Signor Da Silva finished in Grigio Argento (silver grey) with black leather interior and all-round disc brakes fitted. In 1960 it crossed the Atlantic headed for US importer, Chinetti Motors and their client Vincent Scavo of Easton, Connecticut. Chassis ‘1409GT’ then passed to one I Friedman in Massachusetts and in the late 1980s, back to Europe.

Chassis no. 1471GT

1471GT started life in May of 1959, when its bare chassis was sent to the Torino facility of Carrozzeria Pinin Farina, to be clothed in their elegant Coupe coachwork. The seventh to last of the first series 128D chassis, 1471GT was factory equipped with four wheel disc brakes, and the offset-lever four-speed overdrive transmission. The craftsmen at Pinin Farina spent most of the summer building the coachwork for the new Ferrari, finishing it in an elegant two-tone livery of Grigio Argento on the top, and a Bianco lower half. A beautifully contrasting red was chosen for the interior.

1471GT was completed in October of 1959, and soon thereafter delivered to the official Ferrari importer and agency of Sweden, Tore Bjurstrom. Mr. Bjurstrom had big plans for the new Ferrari, and soon after taking delivery transported 1471GT to Germany for display at the 1959 International German Auto Show - IAA in Frankfurt. After the show, 1471GT returned to Sweden, where HRH Prince Bertil, the Ferrari's first owner, took delivery in late 1959. The Duke of Halland, Prince Bertil Gustaf Oskar Carl Eugén was 47 years old when he took delivery of his new Pinin Farina Coupe. A popular public figure in Scandinavia and throughout Europe, Bertil had a great passion for motorcars, and would own several Ferraris during his lifetime.

In 1961, 1471GT was sold on to Langdon 'Bill' Proctor, an American playboy residing in Switzerland. Mr. Proctor was known to rub shoulders with the Swiss elite, and surely felt right at home when arriving at exotic destinations in the silver and white Ferrari. 1471GT was registered on Swiss canton Vaud license plate VD 106426, and used often as daily transport by Procter. In November 1964, the Ferrari returned to Maranello, where it was serviced and maintained at Ferrari's factory Assistenza Clienti service center. At this point, the 250GT showed 53,190 kilometers on its odometer. Soon thereafter, Proctor decided to paint the entire car silver, and it is this color scheme that remains on the car until this day.

In 1966, having accumulated nearly 70,000 kilometers, 1471GT was treated to an engine rebuild at Garage Pesa SA in Lausanne, Switzerland. Near the end of the 1960s, Proctor sold 1471GT to Mr. Jon Lindsay, a young dental student living in Proctor's guest house at the time. Lindsay, an American living in Switzerland, must have felt that his father back home, Hamlin Lindsay, was missing out on the action, and soon gifted 1471GT to him. 1471GT was crated up, and by 1970 left on M/V Atlantic Crown to New York, USA. Hamlin Lindsay kept the silver Ferrari until his death in the mid-1970s, at which time it reverted to Jon Lindsay's ownership. By this time, Lindsay was practicing dentistry in the Monterey, California area.

1471GT remained in Lindsay's ownership until 1983, when purchased by a Bay Area engineer, Marc Wilcoxen. Wilcoxen would keep 1471GT for a decade and a half, before selling the car in July of 1999 to William Tipton, another Californian Ferrari enthusiast. 1471GT remained in Mr. Tipton's careful ownership for another decade and a half.

Chassis no. 1471GT