Posts tagged 250 GTO

It’s not easy to get up at 5am on a Saturday morning.  Most of us use the weekend to sleep an extra hour or two and catch up on much needed rest.  And there are the rest of us, who have a passion for certain things that make us give up the small luxury of extra sleep time.  For me, it’s the lure of walking among a vast array of sports cars – both new and vintage, admiring and capturing images of the cars that catch my attention.  But the main reason that compels me to forgo the pain of having to rise before the rooster and head out to Cars & Coffee, is the possibility of coming across a truly unique car.  Well today’s drive down to Irvine didn’t disappoint.

If you have read my previous posts, you know that one of my favorites sports cars is the Ferrari 250 GTO.  Running into one of these beauties is next to impossible as there are only 36 examples in existence, making it a truly rare car.  With an estimated average value of about 30 million dollars, most owners keeps these cars tucked away, only to display and drive them at limited events around the world.

This morning, I was pleasantly surprised to come across this beautiful, silver Ferrari…

Now there’s a story about this particular car.  One that I came across as a result of some comments and passing remarks that were made by a few who gathered around the car this morning.

First, this is NOT an original 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO.  There, now that I’ve got that out of the way I will elaborate why I was fixated on this car.  Although there were several comments, opinions and half baked tidbits of information on this car, most did conclude correctly on the pedigree of this Ferrari (although it it is not a GTO, it is still a Ferrari), they were all over the place about it’s origins and construction.  Because of this, I did a bit of research and found out some very interesting details on this replica GTO… or should I say “twin”?

Serial number 3873 was commissioned by Lord Paul Vestley of England in the early 1990′s, to be an exact copy of the 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO (serial number 4115) he owned.  He did this because he wanted to continue to race in vintage events without exposing his 4115 to the possibility of an accident, as the value at that time for GTOs had risen to approximately 6 to 8 million dollars. So, he commissioned Bob Smith in England to make an exact copy of the 4115 (at an estimated cost of 1 million dollars).  The car you see pictured above is the result of Smith’s work.

The 250 GTO Smith created is a twin; a tribute of the original GTO Lord Vestly owned.  The Silver GTO with Black Interior and Blue Racing seats, was handmade in aluminum and fabricated using many rare factory components and assembled to exact Ferrari manufacturing standards.  Smith took exact measurements of the original, and with the aid of a computer, he was able to generate the car before he made the mock up.  (On a side note, Smith built 3 cars at the same time as 3873 – all are perfect examples.)

The correct 250 (3 liter) Colombo Motor was built by DK Engineering in England, to the GTO’s specifications.  They used correct sand cast Weber carbs (6-38 DCN); the motor was built using a dry sump lubrication system and a correct 5 speed aluminum transmission case was used as the original. The gauges, seats, steering wheel are all correct as in the GTO.  A correct tubular chassis was built with the exact wheel base measurements.  # 3873 was completed in 1993.

Lord Vesley ran the car at several events in Europe until it was discovered that that car was not an original GTO, at which time, it was not allowed to compete vintage events.

The 3873 was sold and sent to Canada for restoration.  Prior to 2005, # 3873, was considered a rebodied, although correct car, and therefore, could not participated in vintage events.

Since then, the FIA has agreed to accept cars that meet their very stringent requirements.  # 3873 was given an exhaustive inspection in 2005 by FIA representative in England, Jeremy Hall and the car was given it’s FIA passport,  allowing it to participate in all vintage events and races, anywhere in the world.

So, despite that fact that # 3873 is not an original, from Maranello, 250 GTO, it is still a 250 GTO.  The car might not be accepted by the purists as a full GTO, but considering the origins of the car, it’s components and construction, I wouldn’t mind being it’s next owner.  Only problem is, I’m a bit short on cash.

You can view more images from today’s visit to Cars & Coffee… HERE.

Vic

[Information for GTO # 3873 obtained from various online sources.]

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