History question: grand sport modena circa 1964 | FerrariChat

History question: grand sport modena circa 1964

Discussion in 'Vintage (thru 365 GTC4)' started by bitzman, Sep 24, 2009.

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  1. bitzman

    bitzman F1 Rookie
    BANNED

    Feb 15, 2008
    3,287
    Ontario, CA
    Full Name:
    wallace wyss
    I don't know if there is a history section here; as I am new to the forum. but here's an obscure history question nonetheless. DeTomaso recommended to C. Shelby that, for the remaining Daytona coupes,he use a carrozzeria called carrozzeria Grand Sport (or maybe Gran Sport). I was wondering, as a point of history, if anyone knows if they did any Ferraris before they worked on the Daytonas or were they just a race car repair shop? I guess Shelby was tweaked when they interpreted the drawings wrong and made the windshield 3" higher in the first Daytona they did for him but when Gurney qualified it faster than any car in the race he wasn't so mad anymore. In a way it was risky to have his Ferrari-beaters built in a shop right in Ferrari's home town.
     
  2. BIGHORN

    BIGHORN In Memoriam

    Sep 18, 2006
    733
    FLORIDA/NEW MEXICO
    Full Name:
    JOHN F KELLY
    I think you mean Sport Auto Modena.
    Phone 39-059-364317 (limited english spoken)
    41100 Modena
    Emilia Romagna

    Basically 1 block off Via Emilia Est, near SS9 (dont remember that street name)

    They do race prep, fabrication, mechanical; did a lot of racecar work for NART and others, incuding Ferrari.

    I did not hear of them doing anything for Shelby; I did hear that the Cobra Daytona coupe bodies were done in Modena, but I thought by Fantuzzi.

    I am not trying to corrrect the previous post, just giving my often imperfect recollections of long past events
     
  3. Miltonian

    Miltonian F1 Veteran

    Dec 11, 2002
    5,966
    Milton, Wash.
    Full Name:
    Jeff B.
    I don't know much about the Cobra Daytonas, but I'm sure that the bodies (after the first one) were built by Gran Sport of Modena, as suggested.

    I haven't heard the story about the raised windshield on the Cobra, but the same story is attributed to the Maserati 450 berlinetta designed by Costin and built by Zagato.
     
  4. July4th,1965

    July4th,1965 Rookie

    Sep 28, 2009
    4
    Vaccari & Baccarini built the bodies for five Daytona Cobra Coupes in their Modena shop, Carrozzeria Gransport .... -Brian Weatherman
     
  5. Marcel Massini

    Marcel Massini Two Time F1 World Champ
    Honorary

    Mar 2, 2005
    22,739
    No, clearly not.
    Sport Auto Modena is actually Giordano Diena & Andrea Silingardi, or "Diena & Silingardi-Sport Auto Modena" at Via Toscanini 90 in Modena. They don't do any coachbuilding at all. Never did. This is a mechanical shop, engineering, today run by the two sons of the founders Gianni Diena and Aldo Silingardi.
    NO relation to Gransport.

    Marcel Massini
     
  6. BIGHORN

    BIGHORN In Memoriam

    Sep 18, 2006
    733
    FLORIDA/NEW MEXICO
    Full Name:
    JOHN F KELLY
    Hi Marcel, thanks for the correction. I was in a few Modena area shops in 1983 with David Piper and must have gotten them confused.
     
  7. Tom Roland

    Tom Roland Formula Junior

    Feb 14, 2006
    355
    Presently yes, but... A set of photos in Pete Brock, Dave Friedman and George Stauffer's 'Daytona Cobra Coupes' book shows the Gransport workshop of Pietro Vaccari and Fernando Baccarini in 1965 which looks exactly like what was to become Diena and Silingardi's Sport Auto later on.
     
  8. David Grant

    David Grant Rookie

    Sep 4, 2017
    3
    Santa Clarita, CA
    Full Name:
    David Grant
    Does anyone have more information about Carrozzeria Gransport in Modena, such as old photographs, history, employees, and projects? Or, information about the owners, Pietro Vaccari and Fernando Baccarini?
    Thank you,
    David Grant
     

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