Saw an interesting Ferrari today

Saw an interesting vintage Ferrari today. Can anyone ID it? Here is a teaser shot. My understanding is that it is a one off.

regards

ken
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sure...the one off ferrari indy car of the 50's.

 

Thomassima III based upon a 330 P3/4 ???

 

Bardahl Ferrari Experimental. Indianapolis 1956.
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I had no idea about this car until I ran across it at the Saratoga Springs Classic Car Museum. (http://www.saratogaautomuseum.org/) What an interesting place with some nice cars and some very cool events coming up. In 2010 they will have a Gullwing reunion with around 250 Gullwings showing up. On August 2nd they will have the Art of Ferrari show with around 100 Ferraris coming to surround the museum. (www.artofferrari.org)

Meanwhile, here is what I was able to google about this interesting Ferrari:

In 1956, Ferrari renewed its quest for recognition at Indy by working on a hybrid Italo-American car called the “Bardahl Ferrari Experimental,” to be driven by Dr. Giuseppe “Nino” Farina, the first Formula One World Champion in 1950 when he drove the Alfa Romeo 158. Farina had run his last race a year earlier at the Belgium Grand Prix on June 5, 1955.

In 1955, the hottest Indy roadster builder was Californian Frank Kurtis, and Nino Farina, with sponsorship supplied by the Bardahl Oil Company’s office in Florence, Italy, commissioned Kurtis to build a special Indy-style roadster chassis that would be matched with a Ferrari engine, thus combining the best of both worlds.

The Kurtis KK500D chassis was actually shipped from Glendale, Calif., to Maranello, Italy, where the Ferrari factory installed an inline 4.4-liter, six-cylinder, Type 121 engine that was used in the Ferrari sports cars for endurance races.

The Bardahl-Ferrari was air freighted by Flying Tiger Lines into Indianapolis on May 12, 1956, about two weeks later than most cars entering the Indy 500, scheduled for its then-customary May 30 date that year.

As in 1952, it was a rushed affair, though interestingly pictures show that the team had time for certain things: The car had the “Kurtis” chassis insignia and chrome grille surround on its nose when it was air-freighted into Indianapolis. But by the time it was ready to qualify, “Kurtis” had been replaced with the Ferrari prancing horse symbol on the nose of the car.

Farina, however, who like Ascari before him was a rookie coming up the learning curve at Indy, never got to take the checkered flag as he was left waiting in line when the last day of qualifying was rained out. This car did have one achievement: Bob Said set a speed record of 170.5 mph on the sands of Daytona Beach with the Bardahl-Ferrari.

After these dismal runs at the Indy 500 in the 1950s, Enzo Ferrari focused his attention on building at Ferrari first a sports-car powerhouse which dominated endurance racing at Le Mans for much of the 1950s and 1960s and later on a Formula One dynasty which won World Championships in 1952, 1953, 1956 (Lancia-Ferrari), 1958, 1961, 1964, 1975, 1977 and 1979.
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Note Driver who was first F1 Champion for Alfa was Andera Pininfarina's great Uncle.

 

Ken - many thanks for posting...

I'm a big Offy/Meyer Drake roadster fan on the other side of the "pond", so to see this one off Kurtis, with a 121 4.4 sportscar engine is great.Here's more -

http://www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com/news/578/Ferrari_s_History_At_Indy_Started_Long_Before_Inaugural_U_S__Grand_Prix

Ed

 

Here is another interesting car from the Saratoga Springs Classic Car Museum. Could someone give me a bit of history on this car? Evidently it belonged to Luigi Chinetti's son's car.

regards

ken
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It's the 365P, a Pininfarina special of which only two were built in the mid sixties. One went to Chinetti, and the second was owned by Fiat Chairman Gianni Agnelli. The most unusual feature was the "three seater" central driving position, adopted by McLaren in the 90s for their F1 GT. The 365P's mid-engined styling actually foreshadows the Dino, with its graceful roofline and curved rear window. More info here:

http://www.europeancarweb.com/features/0407ec_1965_ferrari_365p_berlinetta_speciale/index.html

 

Could this be "Tom Meade's Ferrari?" It was built off a 250GT chassis with a V-12 3.0 liter. This was back it "1970." The clip you show does it no justice though as the car had, Gullwing Doors, wire wheels (w/knock-offs, and was know as a "3-Liter Thomassima III Ferrari! Hope I'm correct, as (I worked on it back in the "1970's).

Later,
Hank the Crank