Does anyone know if this is 1135/GT or 1225/GT : https://www.carandclassic.com/car/C1602147 They are the only two cars I can find with Exterior MM 16439 and Interior 3309 that left the factory in 1958. Both are unaccounted for in the Registry so could be one more to the good.. Anyone the wiser ? Darren
Darren, this is 1225GT. Picture 16 in the ad magnifies to show the numbers on the plaque. Interesting coincidence about 1135GT here: https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-san-francisco-examiner-1135gt-250-gt/35101185/
Also found this previously unknown car yesterday.....reminded me of my old White PF Coupe but with the rather interesting decision to upholster the upper dash in white leather not black. Also has a chrome bonnet centre band detail similar to a GTE which is an interesting (perhaps unique) detail I have not seen before. Chassis 1689/GT (with engine from 2849/GT) Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
1689 GT: when Oliver Maxfield in Bicester had it 2010. See also "Classic & Sports Car" magazine, issue July 2010, page 27. Marcel Massini Image Unavailable, Please Login
The Registry is now Mobile enabled for those of you that way inclined and who perhaps want to show your friends your car whilst in the Pub I also did quite a bit of work on Inside & Outside Plug Toolkit pages (laptop and mobile) to serve as non detailed pictorial reference for owners. Shout out with any obvious errors. Mobile screenshots below. https://www.ferrari250registry.com/ Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
very nice website. everything nicely photographed. regarding the tool kits do you know when “auto-beta no. 55” wrenches were used? i tjought it was before the beta no. 55 wrenches. also were Cima jacks ever part of the pf tool kits?
I believe the correct wrenches for the 250 Coupes would be 'Beta-Auto No. 55' (note the order). The 'Beta No. 55' appears around the 275s, though I have no knowledge of the exact time that Beta revised the product name. Very early Coupes in 1958 may have had the black 'Crom Molibdeno' wrenches. CIMA jacks seem to be applicable to early 1950's Ferraris (they were used with Lancias too). The 'clamshell' jack followed next. The MR Riganti jack circa 1958 to 1959 appears to have had a slightly darker blue paint (compared to the later Robin's egg blue) with a water transfer decal - not the red foil label. The inside-plug Coupe toolkit bag had one row of 11 loops, and the other row with 9 loops - the inside-plug set of tools tools fit better with this configuration than in later bags. I understand that although the tool illustration in the parts book shows 8 wrenches, the 21 x 23 was not always provided. Just long observation. Darren, Under 'Ephemera', may I suggest that there are two documents to add: There is 3rd Factory sales brochure for the 250 Coupe Pininfarina, perhaps the nicest, for the early inside-plug cars. This is a brass-pinned brochure; within the red covers there is a photographic print of a pair of data graphs, and photo prints of 0891GT. (A similar format brochure in blue was made for the 410SA.) There is also a 250 Coupe Pininfarina body parts book, an original of which has diazo blue-line prints for the pages, bound in cloth-finished hard covers. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Lancia Great intel thank you. Registry updated with images of Beta-Auto No. 55 wrenches (replacing the previous Beta No.55). Will search for those other items and update Ephemera section when I can. Thanks again Darren
Darren, 1957GT lived not far from me when it had the wrong nose. It is in the UK now and the nose has been corrected. This picture is from 2013. http://www.barchetta.cc/english/All.Ferraris/Detail/1957GT.250GT.Coupe.htm john Image Unavailable, Please Login
Hi Darren, even so I am not a PF owner I believe the inside plug tool set had the round handle grease gun in comparison to the outside plug flat handle. You kits both times show the flat handle. For the inside plug spark plug wrenches there were the T-shaped handled one you show and a curved shaped long handle one similar to the later ones except for being longer. Chris (Lancia) or John as PF specialists will be able to give exact info on this.
I took this pic of 1957 GT at Laguna Seca/CA in August 1984. Marcel Massini Image Unavailable, Please Login
Paul Baber may know John as he was selling it back in the day. I remember I visited him and the car around the time (I think) you were looking at 1381. Darren
No luck on any Beta tool information here, but this is a great resource for tool info. Mainly US but also some Intl: http://alloy-artifacts.org/index.html
To the best of my ability (and there will almost certainly be the odd error) the Registry currently stands as shown below (Note : the three generally accepted and documented Speciales are all Series 1 cars namely 0853 / 1007 / 1187). Hard to believe there are still 142 PF Coupes out there somewhere as yet undocumented or photographed ! Image Unavailable, Please Login
Darren, May I suggest that 0853GT technically does not fall into the 250 Coupe Pininfarina production series. While stylistically 0853GT influences, to some degree, the coachwork of the 250 Coupe Pininfarina, I consider it a 250GT 'speciale', better grouped in the small family of design studies together with the two coupes 0841GT and 0843GT. These three cars share the same nose design and tail treatment, with differences in the top/greenhouse design. I myself consider each of the three a 250GT 'speciale'. I suspect these three designs are developed on the 128C chassis, but I have no specific information on this. If you look closely at these three cars, you will note that they also share similar instrument panels, which are very different compared to the 250 Coupe Pininfarina panel, and the foot-well structures (if you observe the engine compartments) are higher in comparative configuration - similar to the foot-well structure of a Series I 250 Cabriolet. They have the twin hood latch points. Note that the nose design of these cars is similar to the last open-headlight Series I Cabriolets, with subtle differences compared to the production coupe nose. The Pininfarina production list for the Coupe as published in two parts in the Ferrari Market Letter in January 2003 (Vol. 28, issues 1 & 2), for example, does not include 0841GT, 0843GT or 0853GT. Of the very earliest Coupes, both 0851GT and 0891GT, viewed as production prototypes, have some atypical interior features for the instrument panel and upholstery. 0851GT was restored some years ago by our most knowledgeable contributor Dyke, DWR46. The restoration was described in a three-part article in Cavallino (relatively early issues, don’t have the numbers at hand), which articles point out some detail and dimensional (specifically the car’s length) differences to standard Coupe production. 0851 was later in Massachusetts in the 1990s, then owned I believe by Bill Cosby. I stumbled upon this coupe being serviced around that time at a Boston area shop; the shop owner kindly welcomed me to have a closer look. I am interested to know if 0891GT still exists, and in its original form. Another ‘Ephemera’ comment. The manuals pouch illustrated in the registry is a later outside-plug pouch. The early cars through 1959 and perhaps beyond into 1960 (? I have no knowledge of date of change) had the inside-plug manual pouch which had a flap clasp with a brown button. Originals are scarce, although same pouch used for all 250GT at this time-frame; there was a limited run of very nice, accurate reproductions of this earlier pouch made in the late 1990’s – they are very discretely embossed with year ‘97’ in small figures to fairly distinguish as reproduction.
Lancia Yes fair call out on 0853GT as when I now go back over a document Marcel M kindly shared with my some time ago (which I used to create the framework for the Registry) I can now see its lists the first 2 PF Coupe production models as follows : 0851 GT 0889 GT So per the Factory records it seems to concur with you and is not considered a S1 PF Coupe or would have appeared after 0851 and before 0889 in the list. I think what I might do is create a separate section for Pre Production cars and put 0841GT and 0843GT and 0853GT in that folder just for reference purposes. Does mean one less for the "Found" count in Registry though sadly I would create a Speciale folder but one already exists for the 2 recognised PF Coupe Speciales of 1007GT (Vitale) and 1187GT (Nasi) I'm totally with you on the Manual Pouch. I am still looking for a decent image of the Inside Plug pouch to add to the site and recognise its missing. All really great feedback thank you ! Darren
And I'm going to go with "Prototype" versus "Pre Production" as the Folder name. It's here : https://www.ferrari250registry.com/portfolio-collections/prototypes I think the images are right but feel free to correct all. Darren
Hello Darren. You may be aware that the motor of 1331GT is in a 250TR replica by GTO Engineering, which is now for sale on BaT. https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1959-ferrari-250-testarossa-2/?utm_source=dm&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2024-03-03 john
I love Ferraris of this era. So many subtle differences yet they all look great. These prototypes look more like the Superamericas of the day. Beautiful.
