‘62 GTO 3765 to be auctioned at Sotheby’s NYC November 13.

Absolutely incorrect.

 

Owner's son says otherwise.

 

The current owner’s son? Because the seller didn’t have have a son.

 

Yes, the current owner’s son.

 

Is there any proof that Ferrari was responsible for the slot vent nose on 3765? Have Ferrari stated that they reformed the 3 nose D shaped vents to the slot shape when 3765 was converted to 250 GTO specification in 1963? Are there any pictures of 3765 at the July 1964 Trieste-Opicina hillclimb raced by Pietro Ferraro or at any time during his ownership?

The last lot of the tipo 62 bodied 250 GTOs were being built at around this time, but none with a slot vent nose. All had the 3 "D" vents.

Not saying that Ferrari were not responsible for the slot, but where is the proof?

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Define "proof"...

 

Are there any pictures of 3765 at the July 1964 Trieste-Opicina hillclimb raced by Pietro Ferraro or at any time during his ownership?.

View attachment 3610658 [/QUOTE]

Ecco, best, Miki-Paki

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Here's the explanation I received circa 35 years ago-
"Le Mans 1962. Early in the race Parkes goes into the sandbank. The car takes on a lot of sand and this is where the overheating begins. The 3 "D" vents are opened up by rough/field cutting a large slot in the nose to increase airflow to the radiator in order to continue racing.
When the car returns to the SF after the race, the rough cut is cleaned up and becomes the slot that we see in the period pictures."

I don't have any proof of this but we have the race data and it's consistent with this explanation.
The car is then sold on to Pietro Ferraro in November 1962, as is.
When he returns in the spring with the work order to transform it into a 250 GTO, we have this from the SF:
"Si consagna la vettura senza messa a punto della carrozzeria (verra effetuata in un secondo tempo)".
Google translates this as, "The car is delivered without bodywork tuning (this will be done later)".

So what would be the bodywork tuning?
The slot from Le Mans would have been restored to the original 3 "D" vent configuration.
As the SF says, however, this will be done later.
And then it never happens until the restoration was undertaken in the late-1980s.
Luckily for the new owner, the 'slot' sheet metal is now in their possession along with the other spares listed at the back of the RM/Sotheby's history file.

 

"senza messa a punto" = "without FINE tuning".

Marcel Massini

 

Thank you, Marcel. This makes more sense in this context.

 

"Messa a punto", is a typically vague word in the Italian language. It is very ambiguous, yet can be extremely precise,
depending on interpretation, by one, two, or twenty persons. It is extremely interpretative, thus a potential variety of definitions.
It can mean: an ensemble of actions in order to obtain the best results in the performance of anything mechanical, or not.

When Forghieri would ask: "E' messa a punto la macchina?" right before the start of an F1 race, and the obvious reply was, "Yes ingegnere", and the car would lead 3 or 4 laps,
then it would fail miserably. Was it "Messa a punto"? Yes before the race, No, after 3 laps.
Will it rain a lot today? "A lot" can mean anything, when interpreted by more than 1.

Be that, tuning a carburator, perfecting a back brace for quadraplegic patients, or the body of a car, which in this instance, could be anything,
from re- fitting an ill closing door, to the sky is the limit, but "mettere a punto" does no necessarily imply the slot or the "D" openings.
A "carrozzeria" (another vague word), is anything that belongs to the body of a car, major items clearly, possibly.
Yet minor, if one could "mettere a punto" il 'devioluci' (light switch control) if that item was not working properly.

The Italian language, is very vague at times, and extremely punctual in other.

Therefore,
"Si consagna (consegna) la vettura senza messa a punto della carrozzeria (verra effetuata-(effettuata)- in un secondo tempo)".
Google translates this as, "The car is delivered without bodywork tuning (this will be done later)".

This can be interpreted in many ways, but 100% conclusive to "vents"?

Regrets on the Anorak.

Regards, Alberto

 

and I always thought that german is a difficult language

 

Thanks very much for the precision, Alberto.
I was working not from the perspective of, 'this is the exact translation', but rather from the car itself.
I was starting with what we knew about the car and going from there.

Specifically, without a crash history (and 3765LM had none) we can then ask what the customer would want done to the bodywork.
At the time of the work order, there are only two things visually about the body that would differentiate it from a 250 GTO; the hood bulge for the 4-liter engine, and the unique slot in the nose.

Mr. Ferraro may have wanted the hood bulge reduced or eliminated.
The slotted nose? If it wasn't the only thing on his request list, it must at least have been the first and most important thing.

 

Dave, thank you for clarification! I am totally unaware of the car, and its vicissitudes so would not dare to comment,
and I'd rather leave it to the ones that really know, (and as humans, err too).

What I offered, is the most 'peculiar' idiomatic usage of the Italian language, where one gesture is worth a thousand words...
At times, only a 'face' will convey messages, no need to be intense in Italy, the 'work orders' have been taken with a very 'artistic interpretation'.
Leave the car under warranty for a whole week, when back, and the situation is the same, they reply: "Tutte fanno cosi' " (Remember the Opera?) "They all do it"

Specially in a rustic, not very refined environment as such were the days and ways in Maranello

Lambrusco and informality. How do you explain that one person in the world, has more documentation than Maranello? Kudos to him.

Regards, Alberto

 

I thought works/factory cars, as 3765 was, did not actually have a chassis plate, and only have the chassis number stamping on the chassis itself?

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Did the former owner indicate to you who bought it Nov 23 sothebys auctio . from: [email protected]

 

I am not the one making the near $70 million and over claims for 250 GTO sales. It is for those that make those claims to prove it, NOT me.

 

No. I don't think any of the contributors to this thread know who bought it.

 

maybe a Swiss one knows.

 

If he does he's not telling!