250 SWB
2733 GT
ED'S FACT-FREE DIET
By Edwin K. Niles

In the summer of 1966, I had purchased (with the help of my Roman friend, Roberto Goldoni) a 250GT Cabriolet, and spent a month touring Europe in that car.

In my travels through Italy, I came across a 250GT short wheelbase Berlinetta (No. 2733GT) at Autosalone Piemonte (that’s Piedmont to you). The car was in average condition externally, and had a number of small dents. However, the interior was a beautiful combination of black leatherette and black cloth, with black carpets. The interior looked so good that, when I agreed to purchase the car, I prevailed on the seller to give the car a new paint job.

In August of 1966, 2733 arrived at the port, and I made my usual trip with water, gasoline, and tools, and drove the car home.

2733 was a very nice car, indeed. The paint job, while not up to today’s show standards, was certainly quite adequate, and the car showed well in the metallic red paint. After a minor tune-up, oil change, lube, etc., (total cost $97.00!) I was ready to put the car on the market.

At that time, I don’t think any of us in the Ferrari world were particularly aware that there was such a designation as “61 comp”. We were, however, dimly aware that the SWB was available in either steel or alloy body; this one was alloy, with a plastic rear window. Later research has shown, of course, that 2733GT was, indeed, a ‘61 comp “race car”.

Oddly, my own records and recollection don’t necessarily gibe with the research that has been done by that great Ferrari historian, Jess G. Pourret. Jess shows that the car was raced heavily in 1961 and 1962, but the papers that I received with the car show a chain of title starting in May of 1962 with one Dolores Amadio, Rome. Later Roman owners were Pietro Badoglio, Massimo Frattini, and Guiseppe Schifone, all of Rome. Obviously, the first owner had registered this Ferrari in a province other than Rome.

The other odd thing is that I don’t remember 2733 as being particularly difficult to drive, and certainly had none of the strange throttle characteristics that I had observed on 2689. Perhaps it is just a matter of failing memory, or maybe the oversized carburetors had been replaced with something more civilized.

In short order, I ended up selling 2733GT to Hart Isaacs, Jr., M.D.

Hart, who became a friend of mine, was most famously known for an episode which occurred to him several years later. One of Hart’s later cars was a 250LM, which he occasionally drove to the hospital. One day, on his way home, he hit some water and lost control, banging the side of the car into the curbing and a lamppost. The side fuel tank on the 250LM was split in this small impact. Gasoline started running down the gutter.

In the meantime, a well-meaning citizen, seeing the crash up ahead, pulled out a flare from his trunk, lit it and placed it behind the LM. You guessed it; the gasoline ran down to the flare, and the resulting fire ran back up the gutter, eventually consuming and totally destroying the LM!

But I digress. 2733GT ended up in Northern California, where someone managed to roll it over. The car sat for a number of years in its rolled over state, as it’s value in those days (around $6,000.00) didn’t warrant building a new body. Eventually, of course, prices went up, and the car has now been beautifully rebuilt, although somewhere along the line it acquired engine #1733 instead of its original.

Unfortunately, my file doesn’t contain any photographs. However, I did find copies of the “Foglio Complementare”, which lists the past owners, together with the shipping statement from Andrea Merzario (yes, the same family as the famous driver).

Editor's Note: Of course, Jess Pourret was correct regarding the early racing career of SWB 2733. Prior to Dolores Amadio, the car had not been registered for use on the streets of Rome only because it was, instead, registered in Modena by Count Giovanni Volpi’s Scuderia Serenissima and was being put to good use on Europe's finest racing circuits. The following history for 2733 has been provided by Ferrari historian Marcel Massini:

Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta Scaglietti 1961, Chassis# 2733 GT

The 94th of a total of 165 units built

The 9th of the SEFAC Hot Rod Alloy Berlinettas built

Chassis type 539/61 Comp.

Engine type 168/61 Comp., internal #284/E

Original exterior color: Red

Original interior color: Black

June 1961	Sold new to first owner Count Giovanni Volpi’s Scuderia SSS Repubblica di Venezia/Serenissima in Venice, Italy
June 1, 1961	Registered on Italian license plates of Modena “MO 66226”
June 3, 1961	Factory completion date
June 10, 1961	Raced at the 29th Annual Le Mans 24 hours by Carlo Maria Abate and Maurice Trintignant, race #16, DNF due to gearbox and rear axle problems, entered by Scuderia Serenissima · (color pictured page 350 of Volume 1 of the book “24 Heures du Mans 1923-1992”, authored by Christian Moity, Jean-Marc Teissedre and Alain Bienvenu) · (pictured page 55 of Dominique Pascal’s book “Ferraris at Le Mans”, published by Haynes)
June 25, 1961	Raced at the Garessio-Colle San Bernardo hillclimb by Abate, placed 1st OA (ex-aequo with Luigi Taramazzo in a similar Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta!), race #220 · (pictured page 23 of the Italian magazine “Auto Italiana”, issue #14 of Anno 42 dated 9-15 July 1961)
July 9, 1961	Raced at the 6 hours of Auvergne at Clermont-Ferrand by Abate and Trintignant, placed 2nd OA, race #6 · (pictured page 48 of Patrice Besqueut’s book “Charade 1958-1988”, published by Editions Koala)
August 6, 1961	Raced at the German Grand Prix support race “Rheinland-Pfalz-Preis” at the Nürburgring by Abate on race #40, placed 1st OA · (pictured page 21 of the Italian magazine “Auto Italiana”, issue #19 of Anno 42 dated 13-20 August 1961) · (pictured page 23 of the Ferrari Club of America magazine “Prancing Horse”, issue #119 of 1996)
August 15, 1961	Raced at the 27th Annual Pescara 4 hours by Abate, DNF because it ran out of gas
September 10, 1961	Raced at the XIII Coppa Inter-Europa in Monza by Abate, DNF because of mechanical problems, race #72 · (pictured page 19 of the Italian magazine “Auto Italiana”, issue #22 of Anno 42 dated 21 September 1961)
September 14, 1961	Entered by the Scuderia Serenissima SSS for the Tour de France. Car was to be driven by Abate and Balzarini on race #143 but was withdrawn before the start due to further mechanical problems suffered at the Monza Coppa Inter-Europa race held the week before
September 17, 1961	Raced in the Pontedecimo-Giovi hillclimb in Italy by Abate, placed 1st OA and 1st in the GT class, race #282 · (pictured page 26 of the Italian magazine “Auto Italiana”, issue #23 of Anno 42 dated 28 September 1961)
October 22, 1961	Raced at the 1000 kms of Paris at Montlhéry by Scarfiotti and Balzarini on race #17, DNF · (pictured page 55 of the Italian magazine “Auto Italiana”, issue #28 of Anno 42 dated 2 November 1961) · (pictured page 25 of the Ferrari Club of America magazine “Prancing Horse”, issue #119 of 1996)
March 24, 1962	Raced in the 11th Annual Sebring 12 hours at Hendrick Field by Fernand Tavano and Colin Davis, race #22 but DNF (officially classified 41st OA) · (pictured page 12 of the Italian magazine “Auto Italiana”, issue #14 of Anno 43 dated 5 April 1962)
May 18, 1962	Sold by Volpi to second owner Dolores Amadio of Rome, Italy
September 11, 1963	Sold by Amadio to third owner Massimo Fratticci, Rome/Italy
November 17, 1964	Sold by Fratticci to fourth owner Pietro Badoglio, Rome/Italy
October 14, 1965	Sold by Badoglio to fifth owner Giuseppe Schifone, Rome/Italy
July 20, 1966	Sold by Schifone to sixth owner Edwin K. Niles, Los Angeles/CA/USA, for US$ 3’500
August 30, 1966	Niles had the car shipped by vessel “SS Goldstone” from Rome to Los Angeles, California. He imported and registered the car under his wife, Carol’s name as he felt officials might raise and eyebrow due to the numerous cars he had already imported that year. Shipping charges were listed at US $495 for a dry weight of 1000 kgs. Upon arrival the car was in excellent condition. It had red paint and a black interior and only few minor paint flaws.
November 7, 1966	Sold by Niles to seventh owner Dr. Hart Isaacs, Beverly Hills/CA/USA, who paid US$ 5’750
1969	Sold by Isaacs to eight owner Carl De Bickero, resident in Palos Heights, a suburb of Detroit/MI/USA
1975	Sold by De Bickero to ninth owner Johnny Aldrige Johnson, Saratoga/CA/USA
1975	Damaged by Johnson on a California freeway
1979	Sold to tenth owner Ernie Mendicki, Monte Vista/CA/USA
1979	Sold by Mendicki to eleventh owner Ronald Tredway, Los Altos/CA/USA
1986	Sold by Tredway to twelfth owner Richard Freshman, Los Angeles/CA/USA
	Used engine no. 1733 GT for many years, the original engine block #2733 GT was in chassis #3637 GT (a 250 GTE) which Freshman bought to get the original block re-united with chassis #2733 GT
May 1987	Body and mechanical repairs executed in Italy by Carrozzeria Fantuzzi in Modena and Diena & Silingardi’s Sport Auto for Richard Freshman
March 18, 1993	Sold by Freshman to thirteenth owner Allie Ash, Washington/D.C., USA
1996	Cover car of Prancing Horse magazine, issue #119
1995 to 2002	Actively campaigned in historic racing by Ash
January 17, 2003	For sale at the RM Auction at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix/AZ/USA, reserve price approx. US$ 1’950’000, NOT sold Fitted with another 250 GT engine but the original engine block #2733 GT comes with it
January 20, 2003	Post-sale to Nick Soprano of Motor Classic Corporation, White Plains/NY for Jeffrey Mamorsky, New York City/NY
August 15-17, 2003	Driven at the Monterey historic automobile races at Laguna Seca by Nick Soprano
Mid-2004	Original engine #2733 rebuilt by Rick Bunkfeldt and installed prior to the Monterey historic automobile races
August 13-15, 2004	Driven at the 31st Annual Rolex Monterey historic automobile races at Laguna Seca by Nick Soprano, placed 8th in the GT 1961-1964 class
August 18-21, 2005	Driven at the 32nd Annual Rolex Monterey historic automobile races at Laguna Seca by Nick Soprano
October 2005	Still owned by Mamorsky

ã Marcel Massini 09/10/04

Using a page (provided by Ed) from an old Ferrari Owner's Club publication, I was able to track down 2733's eleventh owner, Ron Tredway. In addition to giving us permission to publish the photo, Ron also provided his own personal account of the car:

Johnny Johnson bought this car out of Chicago I believe, though I'm not sure in what year. It was advertised in Road & Track. His son later rolled it near Lexington Reservoir coming back from Santa Cruz, CA on a date. The car sat for some time in Johnson’s garage until Ernie Mendicki ended up with it. The two had been partners in a number of Ferrari deals.

Ernie told me about the SWB, as I had always been fascinated with competition Ferraris and , unfortunately, had been one day too late on a GTO purchase back in 1972. I had a nice alloy 6-carb 275 GTB (s/n 8121) at the time, and I decided to sell it to purchase 2733. Everyone thought I was crazy. This was probably in 1978.

I took possession and started collecting parts in order to put it back together: headlights, taillights, door handles, turn signals, etc. John Upton made a duplicate carb tray for me while restoring 2689. He also sent his guys down to collect paint chips from 2733 in order to match the original factory silver paint. The engine in the car at the time was s/n 1733, which seemed coincidental to me. I never was sure of the state of tune, but the ports had apparently been worked on. The tranny that came with the car wasn't a competiton version, just a standard case.

In 1987, I decided that the car was a bigger project than I could handle so I sold it to Richard Freshman, who remains a car buddy to this day.

As a side note, my father was a dispatcher with Pan American Airways and one of his best friends was a fellow dispatcher named Courtney Neeb. Old Court drove a 356C Porsche around Germany in the early 1960s and attended a number of GT races. When he heard that I had gotten a hold of an SWB, he wrote to me explaining how that had been his favorite car ever since he watched Carlo Abate win at the 'Ring in 1961. When I told him it was the exact same car, he sent me the program that he had kept since he had been so enthralled with the race. I gave the program to Freshman.

By the way, that Cobra you see in the photo is still undergoing restoration. It's the prototype Slalom Special from Shelby. Look for it at the Monterey Historics sometime soon... probably 2007.

Best wishes,
Ron