Also check out "Sports Cars Illustrated" and Jim Mourning's article "Tony and the Golden Screwdriver"
The article gto mentions is in Sports Cars Illustrated of March 1957, 4 pages with 4 pictures, including one with Tony and 9 of his racers.
This pic shows 4 of his racers at Palm Springs 1955, 2 Masers and 2 Ferraris. I think he is attending the first one. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Have you read the 1994 Ed Niles' article on Tony Parravano? http://www.fca-sw.org/article.aspx?article_id=389&feature_id=3
Anyone know if their is a Statuate of Limitations on his charges? Could he possibly be still alive or if the Statuate expired on his charges would he have come back to the U.S. at some point?
I need to ressurect this thread because I have come across some contradictions about the color scheme of the Mondial #0448. I was under the impression that the car was typical Parravano red with stripe, but in Michael Lynch's book American Sports Car Racing in the 1950s it mentions that at a 1956 race at Willow Springs in chassis 0448: "O'Connor finished third in both the sports car event and a Formula Libre race in the Mondial. The cars were crudely painted in American blue and white colors and were entered by Parravano's business partner, Henry Maag. ..." So does anyone know when and if the cars were restored to red by the time they were put up for sale (see scan of ad in post 25)? Thanks.
The Mondial must be 0448MD. By this time in 1957 0438MD was already being raced by Lew Yates. The "4.9" is obviously 375 Plus s/n 0478AM and I guess the "4.5" would have to be 0329AL. Does anyone have any pictures of 0448MD from anywhere between the 1970s up to the present? Thanks -Jarrett
Fairly early on, 0438MD recieved a Monza engine (and later an American engine, I think) and is recognizeable by the added hood scoop.
A picture for people who are not sure about the s/n of the 500 Mondial PF spider low nose in official pictures taken in late 1954... Any question ?? Image Unavailable, Please Login
0438 got 0538's 3 liter motor a long time ago; 0538 (also an ex-Parravano car) then got a chevy v-8. After the 97 FCA National, Bill Shaker sold 0538 to David Smith. Smith managed to get 0538's original 3 liter tipo 119 motor from Cottingham (out of 0438) and re-united 0538's chassis and motor. We assisted Smith w/ re-configuring the chassis mounts and other pieces that were lost/butchered when the v-8 was shoe-horned in. I think Smith then won the Ferrari class @ Pebble w/ 0538M a year or two later. The car then went to Morici - I think he still has it? The re-surfacing of 0538 is a quasi barn-find story. Around 1996, my dad got a call from a guy named Bill Shaker who claimed he owned a Ferrari sports racer from the 50s, but didn't know the chassis #, or how to find it. A mechanic in Leesburg VA had told Bill to call my dad. We went out to Leesburg and spent part of a day taking bits and pieces off to locate certain stampings on the chassis and transaxle. Lo and behold, it was 0538; a car that had been out of the public eye since its last glory days in the late 50s. Shaker had used it as a daily driver when he was working out in the desert in southern california, and had promised his teenage son that he could take it to his prom when the time came. Shaker clearly had no clue of the value until he brought it to the 97 Nation in completely unrestored condition (in fact, the night before the National, the car took an "un-manned" trip down the driveway and caught Shaker's Volvo on the corner, so the car came to the show with a brand new war wound on its left flank). shaker soon realized that a restoration was probably out of his league, so the car hit the market - the rest is history. Oh, and Shaker's son never got to take the car to the prom!!
I'd like to thank everybody on this thread who either knowingly or unknowingly contributed to my 2 part Scuderia Parravano blog http://psychoontyres.blogspot.com/20...vano-pt-1.html inspired by Carlyle Blackwell slides purchased by Ed Arnaudin over 50 years ago Cheers Art
You write, that Parravano owned the Maserati 350 S #3502 - is it possible that this car was just re-nummered to 4502 with the new engine (as it happened with 3501)?
what is wrong about that? I think there is quite a lot of interesting information in those old posts ). (und überhaupt würde ich Sie gerne einmal kennenlernen - ich bin in Volketswil aufgewachsen...)
I thought Wbaumer had shown #3502 was a 300S rebuilt and the only question mark is over #3503, for which several claimants exist?
#3502 was indeed based on a 300S (#3064). Its rear axle is of 450S-type and rear 300S-chassis was modified to 450S specs. Its the only 350S that is today without a question mark...
