Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Here's some pics from the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix many years ago.
By 2003 the radio antenna on the left front fender was gone and the orange turn signal lamps replaced with white ones. Marcel Massini
1007 GT some more details from 2003 and 2009. Marcel Massini Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
0945 GT. Sister car to 1007 GT. Maybe a repost. Cover of the FCA PH Magazine 1984. NOT my photo. Marcel Massini Image Unavailable, Please Login
0945GT in period at the same location Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login .
According to the state inspection sticker, those pics were taken in 1993. Here are two more(with the number 50 on the side) taken at the first PVGP in 1983.
Just a question about the 250 PF coupe, sometimes you read about serie I and serie II cars. What is the difference between these 2 series? I know that the later cars became disc brakes and that there was an engine replacement.
For one, inside plug VS outside plug. My car was a 1959 inside plug but came with factory disk brakes.
Given this is a low sn for a pf coupe, was this a case of Pininfarina trying things out before resolving a production design standard? I know it is a speciale, but the control knob location on the later cars makes more sense. The overall number of controls seems similar to a later production car although this might have one more knob than a typical pf coupe (additional fan control perhaps?), but I think the later dash design is more elegant and understated. The other thing I question is the relatively large chrome letters with the chrome horse on the nose. Although the clean grille is nice, I prefer the small yellow enamel rectangular prancing horse that was more production standard, with the chrome horse mounted on the grille. I can't think of any other Ferraris of that era that spelled it out that way, but I'm not as well versed as some on this thread. Nice to see an at-speed photo. I think one of the success of this design was how nice the car looks in motion.
To post 1485, Bert, generally, here are the differences: The earlier cars, today referenced as Series I, had the 128D inside plug 250 motor, typically with Weber 36DCL3 carburetors. Up until serial number 10XX, many Coupes had the single 12-lead Marelli St. 195 DTEM/KS distributor. Thereafter - I do not know the exact point of change, but probably by the end of 1958 - the Coupes had versions of the typical twin Marelli distributors. There are a few equipped with the Lucas distributors and generator, a supply experiment that did not progress. The inside plug motor has a remote Carello (licensed FRAM) cartridge-canister oil filter on the side of the engine compartment, along with the screen filter within the timing case. The Series I had drum brakes with a large twin-chamber master cylinder (likely originating from a FIAT truck application, as you will find a very small FIAT stamp on the unit); the wire wheels were Borrani RW3264. The battery location moved within the engine compartment during production. From a coachwork standpoint, a Series I can be recognized by the small Marchal sidelights, with circular chrome trim plates, on the sides of the top. Again up to around serial number 10XX, the rear license light was a single Hella unit, thereafter a pair of small domed Carello lights. The front turn signal lights varied a lot, but most typical seemed to be the bullet lenses, either Carello or Altissimo versions. At the interior, the gearbox tunnel cover was carpeted, not leather, although the tunnel section between the seats was leather. [Restored early cars are sometimes seen with the gearbox tunnel in leather; I think this is generally a mistake.] The instrument panel top was black vinyl, and vinyl is used on some of the other interior trim pieces – not fully certain which (door panels, rear luggage area). [Again, restored cars with leather dash covers – another mistake]. The ash-tray had either crossed flags badge or Ferrari shield badge, have seen both. The main differences for the Series II: 128F outside-plug 250 motor, Weber 40DCL6 carburetors; disc brakes with vacuum booster. For the fitting the disc brakes, the wire wheels change to RW3526. The engine compartment fuse panel now has a cover over it with thumb-screws (the fuse panel was exposed on the Series I). The small Marchal lights at the top disappear, the gearbox tunnel is now all leather. In between the pure Series I and Series II, either side of chassis number 1500 (? not certain of the numbers) are transition cars with mixed specification of inside plug motor and disc brakes, or the reverse for example. Over the years, many early cars lost their original drum brakes, converted for discs (or swapped to use the drums to restore something like a 250GT Cabriolet S1 or TdF). Some cars had the 400 mm RW3598 wheels for which tire availability today is a problem. A note on the radio plate of the instrument panel: cars without radio have a simple painted cover plate over the radio opening and this plate has a chrome winged badge, with a plain shield in the center, no markings. One might immediately associate the shield shape with a Ferrari shield, but it is actually a detail Pinin Farina used from a Lancia. There are exceptions to the above for certain, and prototypes and several early cars had some special features as noted in this thread. See in particular also 0851GT and 0891GT. Please feel free to correct me or add to this. There is similar information in the early postings of this thread, so sorry if this repeats. Regarding 1007GT, the car was at RPM in Vermont I recall in the mid-to-late 1990’s? I saw it there, engine out on a bench. At the time, the interior was still original, before RPM did further restoration.
One other significant difference if not mistaken: inside-plug cars have 4-speed gearbox with offset gearshift lever; outside-plug cars gave 4-speed with overdrive, centered gearshift lever.
1007 GT was with RPM and one of their clients, a lady, between 1993 and 1997. And then again around 2008-2010. Marcel Massini
One more: Unless I'm suffering from CRAFT (can't remember a flipping thing) the later cars had overdrive, operated by a stalk on the right side of the steering column.
You wouldn't expect a PF coupe to look so right in a track setting, but it sure does. Thank you very much, GW. john
Also the series 2 cars got a single round reverse light mounted below the rear bumper. I believe the ser 1 cars didn’t have one. My ser 1 car has the twin Lucus distributors which you don’t encounter often.
Thanks, lancia, for a great description. Back when I first researched these cars about 18 years ago, it seemed to me that there was not a clear demarcation between the Series I and Series II PF coupes. Raab lists 1493 as the "last first style" and 1499 as the "first second style", but the first outside plug 128F motor didn't show up in a PF Coupe until 1529, and some 128D motors were installed in PF Coupes as late as 1569. I am told that the last PF Coupe to have drum brakes was 1493. So if your definition of Series 1 versus Series 2 relates only to the drums versus discs, then I would say that the clear demarcation is between 1493 and 1499 (and I am not mentioning the further complicating issue of the drum-brake PF Coupes that were subsequently modified by the Factory to discs - what do you call them?). But if your definition of a Series II PF Coupe is discs AND the outside-plug motor, then perhaps the first Series II car is 1529?
Here's a brief but interesting bit on the inside plug cars: http://footage.framepool.com/en/shot/954966576-ferrari-250-gt-ferrari-factory-mercedes-benz-sl-v12-engine john
Bryan, My description is based on a comparison of more pure examples of the Series I vs. the Series II, inside-plug/drum brake vs. outside-plug/disc-brake. As noted, there are a number off mixed specification cars either side of 1500. I suppose one can choose where to put the emphasis for the mixed mechanical examples - either the engine or the brakes, there is no formal protocol to my knowledge other than what one chooses. I think however, the distinction falls to the Pininfarina records, which is perhaps why Hilary identifies 1493 as the demarcation. I have never seen, nor have a copy of the handwritten Pininfarina coupe list, which generally records the date the chassis was delivered to Pininfarina, the order number, destination, colors, and interior materials. The mechanical information is not shown. I do have the two issues of the Ferrari Market Letter which published a translation of the handwritten lists (January 2003; Vol. 28/No. 1 and Vol. 28/No.2). In those articles the demarcation of Series I ends at 1493. I gather from the article that the Pf record then notes "Nuova Commessa" and identifies the second group starting with 1499. Perhaps Pininfarina made a definitive adjustment to the body details at that point, generally linked to overall mechanical changes; it would take an examination of the cars at the junction to hazard a reasonable assessment. I did think of one more coachwork change during production - the early cars generally do not have a black vinyl upholstered knee bolster along the bottom of the instrument panel - all metal folding under. At some point the bolster appears, and it may have had inconsistent application at first. Chris