Ferrari 375 mm (bergman) and Ferrari 375 mm coupé

Saw 0456 many years ago when they he'd the Louis Vuitton Classic in NYC. Stunning car.. Looks like a civilized testa rossa coupe. Could barely take my eyes off it.

 

Perhaps you all know it, but this closed car was re-bodied from a open-bodied race car.

It was the first Ferrari road car body built by Scaglietti.

 

Just another small tale: For quite a few years I had asked my pal Roberto Goldoni (Rome) to follow 0402, as it was tied up in a bankruptcy proceeding (in Sicily, I think). I wanted that car more than any Ferrari I had ever seen. Think about it: a fabulous racing chassis with one of the prettiest one-off bodies ever designed, and with a great ownership history. I used to write Roberto every couple of months to remind him to keep on it. But of course he had a life to live. The years passed, with no word. Then, in 1971, I think, I was in France after the 24 Hours of LeMans, and went with Jess Pourret to a gathering of French Ferrari enthusiasts, where Jess introduced me to M. Charles Robert, who (Jess said) had just bought 0402. I'm afraid that I didn't make a favorable impression on M. Robert, as my language was a bit stronger than, "Rats!". Oh well.

This car remains one of my all-time faves. And I must say that Jon Shirley has good taste: That wonderful Alfa, 0402, and a 250GTO (and heaven knows what else.)

 

One year after Savona had bought the car for ItL 265.000, the car was stolen. The silver grey car was found 11 months later in a garage in Naples where it was repainted military green. It was left in the garage by the thief for a water/oil leakage problem but he never picked up the car and eventually it was advertised for sale.

 

Roba da matti!!! Siamo in un altro mondo. Il mondo unico della Ferrari.

 

Exists a model (BBR 1/43) of Green Savona 0402
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Translation or brief summary of text please. thanks tongascrew

 

try google translate!

 

Ferrari 375 Mille Miglia 1955 : the sample n . 12 is directed by Rossellini Mario Savona

In 1955, Roberto Rossellini to buy a Ferrari Modena model of the house exactly the twelfth of fifteen 375 Mille Miglia roadster made ​​, which was originally intended to be sent to Luigi Chinetti to run in races USA . Rossellini shortly afterwards gave the restyled bodywork Scaglietti , which completely transformed the car from spider in a beautiful and elegant coupe, in 1964 I was in Rome and I learned that they were in the sale of assets owned by the film director Roberto Rossellini including a FERRARI , I activated intrigued me to see what it was .

At the sight of this beautiful model I could not resist and even though I was just a boy without a lot of availability was able to borrow a staggering 265,000 pounds to buy the said Ferrari . Needless to say, I took it personally guiding Palermo despite not being in possession of the license.

My father was obviously unaware of my umpteenth madness and even one day , wanting to please promised me that as soon as I graduated I would give me a FIAT 500 and oibò I already had a 5000 cc Ferrari parked on the road away from the eyes of my family .

The car was not exactly perfect , lacked the typical air intake front grille and side air intakes , however, was always wonderful and a great lover one day I bought the aluminum plates and ricostruii in the traditional way the missing pieces I say with a fair cosmetic result , after about a year my jewelry was stolen from me and despite the various and numerous researches could not know anything.

After eleven months I find that Naples was parked in a garage in a beautiful green Ferrari car as a description very similar to mine. Of course, I arranged to go immediately into the Neapolitan city . In my heart I can not believe that this car was my beloved Ferrari , because the color did not match the original silver gray of the car and I never thought that someone had been able to change color , much less in military green . I can not describe my excitement at the sight of my "baby " when I came into the garage, I was told by the owner of the company that the car had been left for them to overhaul the engine as it passed the water in the oil, but not no one ever showed up and the car was parked in a corner of the state in which it had been left .

Reported in Palermo on my jewel I tried to find a mechanic capable and cost that could repair the damage, but it was practically impossible. After a few months I made the big decision : the shelter or at least I try. In a short time I found that so many people came to see this guy unconscious and a little ' crazy that he had made ​​up his mind to disassemble and overhaul " reassemble a twelve-cylinder engine 6 twin choke and two magnets and have the presumption to restart it .

After six months, the boy was able to reassemble the twelve-cylinder that wonderful , I can not describe the emotion of the moment when I tried to start it, obviously did not want to leave but eventually overcame my stubbornness and with the help of a friend driving the car with a ' other car and after a thousand meters riascoltarono my ears the sound of the fireball even if the twelve -cylinder maybe it worked only six . But I could not. Following a meticulous tuning of the two magnets cylinders roaring became twelve was a big win for me .

In 1970 , after much insistence of one of my close friend , I decided to sell the 375 and thinking it might be of interest directly to the Commander for his small private museum , wrote to Enzo Ferrari in person proposing the car and sending their photos, I had the pleasure of receiving the answer directly from HIM who tell me that he was not interested in buying then as the " Ferrari spA" retained only the cars that had competed for the team , I pointed to as a possible buyer a French collector , such Bardinon , I immediately contacted .

After a series of letter-writing one day I get a call that I preavvisava arrival in Palermo for a Mr. Damagnes , long story short I sold my jewelry to a figure which at the time seemed quite high. From all this I learned that you have to listen to the advice but ultimately you have to rely only on her own .

Today I keep the original steering wheel because I had replaced with a smaller diameter.

 

Here are a few pictures of 0402AM during an earlier era (1970 specifically) of its life in "green". Great car and I'm glad the owner today still uses it regularly and truly appreciates its unique history and style -- it really is a fantastic Ferrari and I'm glad to have been part of the team that restored it almost 15+ years ago.

http://marksavory.com/0402AM/2.JPG
http://marksavory.com/0402AM/3.JPG
http://marksavory.com/0402AM/4.JPG
http://www.marksavory.com/0402AM/7.JPG
http://www.marksavory.com/0402AM/8.JPG
http://www.marksavory.com/0402AM/9.JPG
http://www.marksavory.com/0402AM/5.JPG
http://www.marksavory.com/0402AM/10.JPG
http://www.marksavory.com/0402AM/11.JPG
http://www.marksavory.com/0402AM/6.JPG
http://www.marksavory.com/0402AM/1.JPG

 

OK, when ever you have time. Thanks tongascrew

 

Great historical photos, thanks for posting.

 

Fascinating to see the old photos of the car when it was green, battered and probably just considered an "old sports car". Glad it got restored, wish I lived back then, I'd have bought it myself...

 

Very nice old photos. That car even looks good in "military green"..........

 

Looking at the last two photos seems 0402AM always had 4-venturi carburettors. These appear common on the spyders, but are there other coupes with four barrel carbs? Thanks.

john

PS. thank you "superleggera"

 

Maybe, but remember that 0492AM was originally a spider, so your question is not
very relevant.

 

I don't suppose anyone has pictures of the original spider or any details of the original spider body style. tongascrew

 

Hi, hope you age a chance some day to get this hard drive out.I'll guest there are some real goodies there we would like to see.Thanks tongascrew

 

In the translated version, he mentions "265,000 pounds" as his purchase price for the Rossellini 375 AM 0402 from the sale of Rossellini's assets. This sounds like one helluva lot of moola for a school kid whose father was going to give him a Fiat 500 when he graduated. Didn't he mean 265000 lire? How much was this in dollars back then? I figure the price had to even be below $10,000 for a kid to be able to borrow the money...If it was a bank selling it, they probably didn't care what the car could fetch if marketed properly to the Ferrari community, they just wanted the assets converted to cash as expeditiously as possible.

Also this seems like arcane trivia but I happen to specialize in arcane trivia, so my question is: When Rossellini hit the palm tree, was it ever explained how that happened? Was Ingrid Bergman in the car at the time?

And as far as the styling, I have a question. I haven't looked up yet when Rudolph Uhlenhaut, the Mercedes engineer, had two gullwing coupes made of 300SLR roadsters, using one for his ski trips (imagine taking a 180-mph car onto icy roads in the Swiss alps!). From the side view the Rossellini 375 sure looks like a 300SLR coupe,especially the side ventson the front fenders. If the Italians copied the Germans it would be one of the few times as German styling back then was awkward by comparison to Italian cars(unless you could the cars designed by Bertone like some BMWs).
Here's the 300SLR pictured with engineer Uhlenhaut
http://mitteleuropa.x10.mx/files/gf_mercedes_benz_300_slr_uhlenhaut_coupe_01-01C.jpg