Help me find this 1954 Ferrari Vignale Cpe

Lord.brett posted this else-where

http://images.forum-auto.com/mesimages/275582/Harare%201997.jpg

That references the Zimbabwe blurry history off Barchetta.cc

 

A few years ago I wrote to Max Baer, Jr., but never got an answer. Most likely he doesn't have a record of the S/N, or is too busy to look, or someone tossed my letter in the round file. The least probable: He still has it salted away somewhere, which might result in a barn find if someone more interested than I were to chase him. Did I get your attention?

 

I owned that car in the early 1960s. I lived in Studio City, CA, at the time. It was registered as a 1954 Vinale Coupe. It was hand built for the actress Anna Magnani and shipped to Sweden. It was the only one ever built. I bought it equipped with a 283 Chevy small block and Power Glide transmission. It had the stock Ferrari differential and would snap axels with all that torque. I had Car Craft Engineering cut down a Chevy rear end to handle my lead foot. They mated the Chevy axels to the splined axle ends for the chrome borrani wire wheels. It came, separately, with the original Ferrari V-12, equipped with four Weber downdraft carburetors, dual magnetos, and the five speed transmission. Stupid me, I sold the engine and trans to a guy for $500.00. He needed it for it's gaskets. I still kick myself! I often thought the engine, with all it's waffle patterned, cast fins, would have made a great coffee table...

The car did not have the air inlets at the front of the grill and did not have a crank hole in the grill or an indentation in the front bumper. It had Marcel headlights, 6V bulbs and a three prong star behind the glass lenses. All electrical was converted to 12V.

I wrote the Ferrari factory trying to get some information on the car. They wrote back, saying only, "Please send pictures". After sending the photos, they said they thought the car no longer existed, that it was the only one ever built and gave me the information about Anna Magani.

With the heavier engine, it was an ill handling car, but I was never beaten in a straight line! I traded the car to a guy for his Porsche Speedster... I wanted to race in SCCA's E Production class. I don't remember his name, but the last I heard, he ran it into a deer in Texas and the car was totaled. Having watch Barrett Jackson, no Ferrari is ever really totaled. Can't imagine what that car would be worth today! : (

I worked with Max Baer Jr. on the Beverly Hillbillies and to my knowledge, he never owned this car.

 

Welcome and many thanks for your GREAT post!!!

It depends upon what else you hit, after the deer......LOL!

That kind of car would definately stand out in a wrecking yard, but with an uninterested audience might well have met the crusher anyway.....

 

H, got any pictures?? Please post. thanks just one man's opinion tongscrew

 

This is in reply to Kare Pietila's questions:


I find your memories very interesting and the story points suggests the car might have been 067/S originally owned by Bianca Maria Piazza in Switzerland/Italy. I am a little confused about the Anna Magnani connection, but on the other hand why not - she was a big star and is known to have owned (another) Ferrari in 1952.

I am also a little confused by your comments over lack of crank hole and indention on bumper. This car - and cars with this body style more or less always had these details. Are you 100% sure this is your car? The stories fit together very well. I guess you don`'t have any pictures?

Do you remember who you bought it from? A name "Gianulli" has been mentioned - do you remember if the seller was an Italian emigrant/heritage?

Kare (and srslusso)-

The only thing I know about Anna Magnani is what Ferrari told me. Not being into foreign films at the time, I'm not sure if I even knew who she was.

As for being sure the car had no crank hole or indention in bumper, it was almost fifty years ago and I'm not absolutely "positive" about anything that happened back then. I was a hot rodder, not a car collector. The car had a light weight aluminum body, a light weight tube chassis and a big Chevy engine... all factors a hot rodder would want. I'm as sure as I can be, after fifty years, the car had no hand crank. It would have stuck in my mind that someone would actually want to crank start a 283 Chevy engine! Really don't know why anyone would want to crank a Ferrari either...

Several years after selling the car, I tried to find pictures of it, as I hadn't taken any myself. I've looked in many Ferrari books, even Googled it (that's how I found this site) and have seen many similar cars, but never any pictures of the exact car. I was excited to find someone looking for the car, as they might have pictures of it, but I guess not.

I don't remember who I bought the car from, but they could have been Italian. I remember the garage where I found it had several Italian cars... I remember a Fiat Abarth Zagato Coupe which I thought was really cool, as there was one racing in SCCA at the time. Being 6'2", the bumps in the roof still wouldn't have given me enough headroom with a helmet on.

Anyway, I hope srslusso tracks down the car and maybe will share photos of it. Best of luck.

Attached is a picture I found on your site that is very similar to the grill on the car I owned.
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I'd say 0061S.

All of the other cars of this early body style (045S, 0051S, 0059S, 0062M, 0067S, 0069S, 0071S and 083S) all had the inset scoops between grille and engine lid, the groove down the sides, the profile of the side windows and have photos to show it in Massini's book, yet the only one built amongst this group - and would more than likely share a similar style - is not represented photographically.

Where else is there a photo of 0061S?...

 

0061/S is most probably this Vignale coupe shown in all books as "0127/E" (which is almost impossible as 0127/E is a 1951 serial number and this design is a 1950 one...)

I'm convinced the "unkown" Vignale coupe of this thread is 0067/S...
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Where did I say my drawing shows the car of this thread ?

I said :

- my drawing probably shows 0061/S (the sister car of 0065/S).

- the Vignale coupe of this thread pictured in post #82 is probably 0067/S...

 

But 0067S has the indent scoop between the grille and engine lid. The original photo at the beginning of this thread doesn't have it.

Although there is always the possibility it would have been filled in due to a repair from accident damage...

 

Sorry Peter but the nose of our unkown Vignale coupe is clearly not original...

 

If you look carefully the line in the flank (in red in the picture), you will see each car has its own shape and I would say the coupe of this thread is not in the list below (0045/S, 0059/S, 0069/S and 0071/S).

Now, compare our unknown coupe with an old picture of 0067/S. For me, the line perfectly fits as it's high and ends in the middle of the rear wheel arch like 0067/S...
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True, but well done though. There are many "nose jobs" out there that have terrible shape and form.

I see it as well.

 

Thanks for the recent pictures. In going thru this thread there were questions regarding the engine and chassis stampings. I have pictures of both showing 0069 indicating the original chassis and engine are together. tongascrew