AUTOMOTIVE - VINTAGE: Ultra Valuable Ferrari At Auction

One of the acclaimed stars of RM Auction?s sale in conjunction with Villa d'Este Concorzo in Cernobbio, Italy on Saturday, May 21, is a rare 1955 Ferrari 375 MM Pinin Farina Berlinetta Sport Speciale.

A multiple award winner, the Ferrari is valued by the auction somewhere between $4.6 million and $6 million in a first-ever sale that features an exclusive number of world-famous cars with values that average well about the million dollar mark. Among them, a collection of six iconic Bertone concept cars and a Talbot LagoTeardrop coupe.

Pinin Farina's design for the 375 MM would begin a new styling era for Ferrari. (Photo: Wouter Melissen) The Ferrari harks back to the 1955 Turin Motor Show, where the Pinin Farina design house unveiled a 375 MM-based special that introduced a new Ferrari design direction that would be followed throughout the second half of that decade. Not only was it a start of an era, it was also the end of one; it was the last even-numbered Ferrari bodied by the Turin coach builder. All future racing cars would be bodied by specialists such as Scaglietti or Fantuzzi, or by the factory designers.

The Ferrari was fully restored in the early 2000s and debuted at the 2004 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, where it was awarded best in class, and went on to win a number of other prestigious concours during the following months such as the Cavallino Classic.

The history of the 1955 Ferrari 375 MM Pinin Farina Berlinetta Sport Speciale goes back to when Enzo Ferrari started his own company in 1947 and hired Gioacchino Colombo as chief engineer. The two had previously worked together when Ferrari was team manager at Alfa Romeo.

Colombo's task was to design a new engine that would outperform the eight-cylinder grand prix engine he had designed for Alfa Romeo before the War. The rules allowed for a supercharged engine with a maximum displacement of 1.5 liters or a naturally aspirated unit displacing up to 4.5 liters. Colombo's vast experience with supercharging made his choice for the former understandable.

The 375 MM was a showcase for the grand prix-winning Lampredi long-block V12 engine. (Photo: Wouter Melissen) Colombo's 1.5-liter V12 engine powered the first Ferrari and with various displacements, it powered every Ferrari up to 1950. This was the first year of Formula One, and the championship winner featured a Colombo-designed engine. Unfortunately for him, it was the Alfa Romeo that won every single race of the championship; Colombo was quickly fired after this debacle.

His replacement, Aurelio Lampredi, set out to design a completely new engine for 1951. Not making the same mistake as Colombo, Lampredi chose to design a naturally aspirated 4.5-liter V12 engine.

To save weight, both the cylinder block and heads were cast from light alloy. Each bank of cylinders featured a single overhead camshaft, operating two valves per cylinder. The engine was thoroughly tested in 1950 and ready to take on the Alfa Romeos in 1951.

Fitted into the Ferrari 375 F1, the V12 produced around 350 horsepower. Although this was no match for the power of the Alfa Romeos, the 375's fuel efficiency made it a serious contender, only losing the championship in the final race of the season.

Ferrari's performance and Alfa Romeo's policy changes were the main reasons for the Milanese firm's withdrawal from grand prix racing. With Ferrari being the only team remaining with a competitive F1 racer, the sport's governing body decided to run the 1952 and 1953 championship under Formula Two regulations.

This left the Lampredi engine obsolete for grand prix racing, but its career was far from over. The large V12 found its way into a limited series of Ferrari sports racers, the 375 MMs constructed in 1953 and 1954.

The Berlinetta Sport Speciale was introduced at the 1955 Turin Motor Show. (Photo: Wouter Melissen) The first cars constructed were equipped with engine Tipo 102 of the exact configuration as the grand prix engine. For reliability reasons, most cars featured engine Tipo 108 with a slightly different bore/stroke and displacement. Some of the large amounts of torque available were sacrificed by the bigger bore, but the higher revving engine yielded a similar amount of horsepower.

Pinin Farina supplied most of the bodies for the 26 375 MMs. Most common were the Spyder and Berlinetta bodies. The other five 375 MMs constructed were fitted with custom coachwork for some of Ferrari's wealthiest customers.

Twelve Pinin Farina Spyder 375 MMs were extensively raced all over the world. One was entered by American legend Briggs Cunningham in the 1953 Sebring 12 Hours and the 24 Hours of Le Mans in1954, although the car failed to finish at both occasions.

The finest hour of the Lampredi V12 would come at the 1954 24 Hours of Le Mans race, where a 375 Plus with a 4.9-liter version of the engine took the overall victory. In the following years, the Lampredi engine was only used sparely, predominantly to power the most exclusive of Ferrari road cars.

Ironically, the long-block V12's career was ultimately overshadowed by the successes of the Colombo engine that the Lampredi originally was tasked to replace.

For a gallery of photos, see Sport Speciale.

Read more articles like this at Ultimatecarpage.com.

Source: http://automotive.speedtv.com/article/vintage-ultra-valuable-ferrari-375-mm-auction/

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