It appears to me that 70% of the 275GTB's now wear wire wheels, when surely originally the number was like 30%. As I'm not a fan of wires, I find this a huge shame as the alloys are much better suited to the car. Pete
The problem is Pete, that it is impossible to buy new Campagnolo mags or even a modern replica. It is also difficult to find refurbishers capable of working with this material - many say 'easy', while others are more honest and are not prepared to touch them. Apart from the difficulies of painting magnesium, it might not be wise to use 50 year old alloys in high speed driving. Failure could spoil your day! By contrast, new Borranis are freely available and the factory will refurbish older wheels. Perhaps someone could be persuaded to produce replicas of the Campagnolo originals in a stronger, modern alloy. John
I did not know this and can now understand the prevalence of wire wheels. A lot of Alfa (GTA, SZ, etc.) wheels are now remade ... I guess there is not a large enough market for these wheels? Pete
From Gumball3000 in London april 2007. Owned by Karen Millen founder Kevin Stamford.7 Not sure what it is - a rebuilt 275GTB or a GTB/C? Image Unavailable, Please Login
Unfortunately more damage will be caused in the necessary removal process. IMO far safer to test your cars performance on a proper race track than these targa events. Oh well, at least they were trying to use the car and have fun ... hope this does not cause a return to the shed to only be removed for polishing. Pete
I agree completely. I thought of putting a set of mags on mine years ago but I have serious concerns for safety on a 50 year old alloy rim so I never bought any. I would actually, prefer outside laced 15" comp. wheels but my wheel wells wont take them and I'm not in a hurry to tear up the wheel wells. If they would fit I would get them in a heartbeat. Better size wheel and way more choices for far better tires with 15" rims. This is Prance at The Quail. Image Unavailable, Please Login
In first pic, car #11 on Tour Auto, 275 GTB shortnose (copyright: Luke Gilbertson) - am I right in thinking that this is s/n 07743? Secondly, I've cropped a few front wings of various shortnose cars in the second pic. There are some subtle differences across these five cars in the shape of the wing as it curves from the wheel around to the front of the car. I know there will always be small variations in cars this old, but are certain cars closer to the factory 'shape' at the front? I also note that the Tour Auto car in the first pic seems to have a very shallow curve on the wing and bumpers that barely reach half way across the tyre width. If this *is* s/n 07743, can that be attributed to a slightly reshaped body when put back to original shortnose spec? -Ed Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Those photos are interesting. I had a friend who had a 275 GTB just a few serial numbers from mine. The subtle differences between the two were amazing to me. When I restored my car, I did notice that all the removable parts had the cars serial number on them. Even the bumpers. I fully expect they would fit no other car.
Subtle differences in Scaglietti cars are real and should not all be written off as poor repairs. john
All of these cars were built by hand. No robots etc. Forget the year 2017, these 275's were built in 1964/1965/1966, only about 53 years ago. Consequently every single piece is different and the reason why one can find serial numbers, assembly sequence numbers and Scaglietti body numbers in all sorts of pieces is NOT to please historians fifty three years later but this was actually done to make sure that during production and assembly the right piece would go to the right car and fit properly. A pure organisational and logistic thing at the time. Try to imagine how was life in a small coachbuilding company in Italy 53 years ago? Dark hall, dusty, loud from the constant hammering of the metal. And total production of Ferrari cars in 1964 was just 654 cars (all models together). Not 8'500 as it is in 2017. Marcel Massini
100% correct! Today the cars from Maranello are modern industrial products. No less - abut also not more...
Indeed - and just to be clear, I wasn't suggesting this. My specific queries were: a) Is this car s/n 07743? b) Doesn't the front wing look significantly different to the other five pictured (i.e. not just a subtle difference - it seems to cut forward very sharply from the wheels unlike the other five)? If it is s/n 07743, then perhaps its history goes some way to explain the difference I perceive. That's all. -Ed
My comments were not faulting the cars nor the builders. I fully understand why there were differences. I just found it fascinating to experience the uniqueness of each car first hand
It sure would beat neat to see those photos all shot with the same camera with same focal length and the tripod and car in exactly the same spot.