The convoluted history of the 312B3:

When viewing the photos in the "Throwback" thread, it occurred to me that no Ferrari F1 car ever went through the changes the 312B3 did in its life from 1973-75. I'm not even sure I know the whole story.

It really started with the so-called "Spazzaneve" which was Mauro Forghieri's project to try and concentrate the mass of the car as centrally as possible. I've read conflicting reports as to whether it was actually intended to be the 1973 race car or whether it was intended to be only a testbed or laboratory car. I have seen it called the B3 but I don't think it ever officially received that designation. Forghieri was subsequently "reassigned"; whether that was due to failings with the Spazzaneve or not, I have not seen conclusively.

The actual B3 was built, and presumably designed, in England. While more up-to-date looking than the outgoing B2, it seems unusually low and wide. This is the form it was first presented in, with side radiators fed by NACA ducts in the sides and a full-width "sports car" nose of the type first pioneered by Tyrrell. Note the rear wing with a single mount in the center and supports on each end. It never raced in this form.
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The B2 was used in the early races and actually scored most of the team's points for the year. By the time the B3 got to race, I believe in South Africa, the side radiators had been discarded as ineffective. This required a subframe to be added to mount a conventional front radiator, with a suitable hole cut into the sports-car nose which is still in use, as is the original rear wing. Note the repositioned mirrors.
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By Monaco, the sports-car nose was gone, replaced by a smooth central wedge flanked by conventional side wings, which were probably easier to adjust. The rear wing was also revised and now has two central mounts and is further aft than before. The car raced in this form through Britain, scoring its best finish, 5th, in France.
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By now, the car's failures were bad enough that Forghieri was "recalled" to try and fix the situation. The team missed two races while Mauro fiddled. The new car appeared in Austria in the hands of Merzario and ran in this form for the rest of the season. Ickx was given a one-off ride at Monza but was apparently not impressed enough to hang around. While the car, sometimes called the "B3 S", was improved, it failed to score any points. The radiators are back in the side, steeply inclined to present enough area for proper cooling and exhausting upwards. The airfoils are new and the rear one has been moved forward to the location mandated for 1974, indicating that Ferrari was using the rest of 1973 as a test session. Note that the cockpit surround is unchanged, indicating that this is basically still the same chassis.
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The major change occurred in the off-season, enough so that the 1974 car probably should have been called the B4. The main change was moving the cockpit forward, sitting the driver more upright, and moving all the fuel into a single large tank between the driver and the engine. In practice in Argentina, the same front wing and airbox were used as in 1973, maybe to fool the opposition into thinking that the car was little changed. Later a new, taller airbox was fitted, but note that the roll bar is still exposed.
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This appears to be from testing at Fiorano after South America. Notice how the rear upper radius rod has disappeared, and the new front wing now has all its supports below it.
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By the next race, the car had been revised to what was basically its final form, one that would win races and contend for the 1974 championshop. Forghieri had really converted a sow's ear into a silk purse! Visually the main change is the new one-piece cockpit and engine cover, incorporating the airbox and covering the roll bar. The initial rear wing had straight edges, but a vee leading edge (as seen in Germany) and eventually a vee trailing edge were both used.
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For 1975, the 312T that would succeed the B series was in the works, with enough similarities that it was sometimes called the B3(T). For the South American rounds, the B3 was pressed into service, apparently unchanged except for the tricolor stripes on the airbox. The airfoils and cockpit/engine cover were carried over virtually unchanged to the new car, though the nose below the front wing would be narrower.
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The top row is interesting. The first must have been at an early stage, since the airbox is notably shallower than what was raced. I'd like someone to tell me the story about the second photo, running without airfoils. It's amazing how ungainly cars of this era look without airfoils, considering that less than a decade earlier, no F1 car had airfoils!

 

All I can say is, comparing the first and last photos in this set, it's hard to believe that, under the skin, this is essentially the same chassis! Of course, by the time Forghieri was done, I wonder how much of the original British car still remained. And considering how many visual changes there were in the B3, it's amazing to think that its successor, the 312T, never changed in appearance for its entire career!

 

Looks like a rebodied F2 or F3 car. Maybe they figured if they made it look like a winner, it would be a winner! I doubt if it worked.

 

The bottom row is obviously airbox experiments for 1974 and 1976, respectively. I'm glad the last one never saw the track; that one is hideous!

As for the wingless run by Merzario in '73, I was told that was at Watkins Glen. Maybe the car was so slow, they tried anything in practice.