T50 sounded great but looked, well, ****. I think the "lesser" T whatever it is looks better than that. Regardless, by Christ those old F1 cars sound so much better than the current rubbish. Thanks, Greeny ****s. Again.
Nup Mike Hawthorns would take the Ferrari cake: Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Nothing to do with Mike Hawthorn. That car was built for the London Earl's Court Car Show in 1952. It's now in Sydney btw, as a Barchetta.
Oh OK: IDENTIFICATION AND DATING: 1952 Ferrari Model 212 Export Photos/info sent in by Tony Russell (UK) on behalf of Suzy Miller whose father drove it. It is a 1952 Ferrari Model 212 Export coachbuilt by Abbotts of Farnham Surrey for Mike Hawthorn whose business was TT Garage in Farnham. First shown at the 1952 Earls Court Motor described by some as "ugliest Ferrari ever made!". Then owned by William Scott of Ewell Surrey who employed Jack Wright, father of Suzy Miller. Re-bodied in 1986 as a Touring Barchetta. Abbott body no longer exists. And: 3 1952 Abbott 212 Export Looking more Morris Minor than Maranello, Abbott of Farnham’s stodgy four-seater convertible on a 212 Export chassis (number 0165EL) was created for future Grand Prix star Mike Hawthorn’s TT Garage, and is often cited among the ugliest Ferraris ever created. Shown at the 1952 Earls Court Motor Show, the uninspiring 212 boasted a huge rear overhang, a drab wooden ‘mantlepiece’ dashboard and ‘bird in flight’ wheel arch motifs. Not surprisingly, this body remained unique and, in fact, no longer exists – 0165EL was rebodied as a 1951-style barchetta in 1986. Anorak fact Robert Jankel of Panther Westwinds fame was the only other notable British coachbuilder to rebody Ferraris, including a Daytona shooting brake. There are other examples showing Mike Hawthorn had a hand in it down the line. Edit,just found this French piece with quite a few pics...translator needed. https://www.ferrarista.club/forum-ferrari/forums/topic/10327-abbott-ferrari-212-export/
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TT Garage was run by Mike's father. I say again that Mike had nothing to do with the Abbott Ferrari. It's just a story after the fact to add significance to the car using Mike's fame.
I realise that, I'm making the point that however his father came to be the seller of that car, Mike Hawthorn was not involved. There's no person alive today who can argue with the myth, so it propagates on the internet. Interesting that 30 years ago, nobody in the Ferrari world drew a line between the car and Mike Hawthorn. I know the previous owner reasonably well and he never described it as being built "for" Mike Hawthorn. A more likely scenario is that some titled idiot in 1951 commissioned the car, was horrified at the ugly result, then asked Leslie Hawthorn to unload it for him.
