Charly Müller, Ferrarista Svizzera

Swiss Ferrarista and race driver Charles "Charly" Müller, passed away last week, shortly before christmas 2018, at age 86 in his home in the city of Basel.
Charly was born in 1932 and lived in Basel, Switzerland. Aged 30 in 1962 he purchased a metallic grey 250 GT SWB Berlinetta Scaglietti, chassis number 2595 GT. He successfully raced it in Monza, at the Ollon-Villars hillclimb (Switzerland), at the Freiburg-Schauinsland hillclimb (Germany), and other races that also included the 1963 Tour de France Automobile.
Charly never had any money but he had a lot of charm and unbelievable energy and as a professional womanizer was successful in convincing the fathers of his girlfriends to buy him new Ferraris. Mr. Bisang, owner of a shirt manufacturing company in Lausen, paid for Charly's first Ferrari (the SWB). Charly was in love with Mr. Bisang's daughter.

In March 1964 Charly Müller purchased a brand new darkblue (Blue Sera) 250 GT Lusso Berlinetta Scaglietti, the 1964 Geneva Motor Show car. The Lusso was immediately upgraded to six carbs and race prepared, by Automobile Monteverdi AG of Binningen near Basel. Charly then raced the Lusso, chassis number 5367 GT, at the 1964 Tour de France and many other events (including Turckheim-Les Trois Epis (France), Sierre-Montana Crans (Switzerland), Grand Prix du Limbourg in Belgium, Mitholz-Kandersteg (Switzerland)). He kept that Lusso until January 1990 in a secret little barn.

In 1965 Charly Müller occasionally raced a 250 LM Berlinetta, chassis number 6119, one of the Scuderia Filipinetti team cars. Oftentimes Charly Müller's co-driver was Heini Walter, also a well-known Ferrarista. Sometimes Müller entered his Ferraris also in the name of Milanese Scuderia Sant'Ambroeus.

Photos and information of Müller racing Ferraris can be found in books such as Maurice Louche's "Emotion Ferrari" and other publications ("Scuderia Filipinetti" by Ed Heuvink).
Charly Müller must not be confused with another Swiss Ferrarista, Herbert "Herbie" Müller.

Here's Charly Müller with Lusso 5367 GT.

Marcel Massini

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Here's Lusso 5367 GT in recent years at Monza and Charly Müller end of April 2018.

Marcel Massini

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