The Ferrari 250 GTO Mystery Is Solved

by Mike -

Recently I wrote about a mystery, at least it was a mystery to me, about pictures of a Ferrari 250 GTO that I found in the August and December 1963 issues of Road & Track.

Bev Spencer in GTO 4219 at the Hillsborough Concours d'Elegance in May 1963

The August issue had a color picture of a red GTO being driven by Pedro Rodriguez who won the 3-hour Daytona Continental race in this Ferrari GTO. The December issue had a black and white advertisement for GTO 4219 for sale that was raced by this same driver and won this same race. This car was a light color with new racing stripes down the middle.

In addition the seller was Spencer Buick (Bev Spencer) in San Francisco also an Authorized Ferrari Dealer.

The mystery was what happened to this GTO between August and December 1963 that caused a color change? And was a Buick dealer really also an Authorized Ferrari Dealer in 1963?

The answers were supplied by an article in MercedesHeritage.com written by Roy Spencer who is the editor of MercedesHeritage.com and also the son of Bev Spencer the owner, and seller, of GTO 4219 in 1963.

A My Car Quest reader sent the link to this article which was published just 3 weeks before my GTO Mystery post. And no I had not seen this article before.

Bev Spencer with GTO 4219 at the Del Monte Lodge in Pebble Beach after racing at Laguna Seca in the fall of 1963

Roy Spencer writes a fascinating story that I suggest you all read and explains that the paint job between August and December 1963 was because his father was using the car to race for the North America Racing Team (NART) and the car was painted in the blue and white color scheme of NART. The stripes were blue and the car was white.

Bev Spencer also owned another GTO and the first Testa Rossa made. All three of these special Ferraris were in Monterey this past August. The two GTOs were at Pebble Beach and the Testa Rossa was sold at Gooding for an all time record price at auction for any car.

Ferrari 250 GTO 4219 at Pebble Beach August 2011; now owned by Brandon Wang

It was pure coincidence that I found those two pictures from 1963 and asked some questions about this GTO. The answers were more fascinating that I could have imagined.

Please share your comments with me and other readers.

Roy Spencer gave me permission to use the pictures above.

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Below are the two pictures that triggered the mystery.

Pedro Rodriguez in the 3-hour Daytona Continental-winning Ferrari GTO. Kodachrome photo by Robert L. Downing; from August 1963 Road & Track

Advertisement for GTO 4219 from December 1963 Road & Track

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Another Ferrari 250 GTO Mystery

by Mike -

Today I was browsing through old issues of Road & Track and in the August 1963 issue I came across this center spread color picture of a Ferrari 250 GTO racing.

The caption on the previous page read "Pedro Rodriguez in the 3-hour Daytona Continental-winning Ferrari GTO. Kodachrome photo by Robert L. Downing."

Then in the December 1963 issue I found this advertisement below.

This ad describes a Ferrari GTO for sale and says it is the GTO in which Pedro Rodriguez won the Daytona 3-hour Continental. The ad says "serial No. 168; engine No. 4219. In concours condition, ready to race."

In the first picture the GTO is red as clearly shown by the Kodachrome photo. In the advertisement the pictures are black and white (I suspect Kodachrome was expensive in 1963) but the GTO does not look red, it looks white or some other light color, and it has a new racing stripe down the middle.

The mystery is what happened to this GTO between August and December of 1963?

Also, was Spencer Buick in San Francisco really an Authorized Ferrari Dealer as claimed in this ad? Oh, and one more thing - how can a race winning race car be described as "concours condition" even by a used car salesman?

I would love to hear from any Ferrari experts on this one.

Please share your comments with me and other readers.

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Unexpected Memories - Ferrari 250 GTO

by Mike -

It is such a terrific moment when someone unexpectedly gives you a gift of a memory forgotten.

Today I am talking about photos of Stephen Mitchell's Ferrari 250 GTO.

The photos were taken and saved all of these years by Larry Crane who recently gave them to Stephen. You can read about that here.

These pictures were taken at Riverside Raceway, I am guessing in the late 1960s or early 1970s. Notice the GTO is in the parking lot and not on the track. 

It is parked between a Shelby Cobra and a Ferrari 275 GTB.

Above people walk by like it is a routine event to see a Ferrari 250 GTO in the parking lot.

Then the car catches the eye of a young car lover.

This Ferrari 250 GTO is now owned by Ralph Lauren and spent its 2011 summer at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. This is Stephen below at the museum reunited with his former Ferrari.

Stephen is on the right, in the middle is Jeanetta Dumouchel, a producer, with Stephen, on the Carrera Panamericana documentary film and Marc Sonnery on the left, author of Rebel Rebel: Breadvan: The Most Recognizable Ferrari in the World.

What a contrast between the car in the museum and the car in the parking lot of a race track about 40 years earlier. Amazing changes have occurred over the years. 

The dirty, driven and well used Ferrari 250 GTO of Stephen Mitchell is now a museum piece owned by Ralph Lauren.

You can read Stephen Mitchell's blog here. All photos provided to me by Stephen Mitchell.

Also read:

Ferrari 250 GTO - Five Things - Part One

Ferrari 250 GTO - Five Things - Part Two

Ferrari 250 GTO - It's Always Something

Ferrari 250 GTO Pictures

Ferrari 250 GTO

In the close up pictures below it can be seen that someone made some design changes to this car. Notice the lower air intakes have gone from two to one per side, the fog lights have appeared where an air intake once was, the three openings on the front of the hood have been covered and the air intakes near the windshield are either gone on the Lauren version or they are different, maybe plexiglass.

Please share your comments with me and other readers.

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Ferrari 250 GTO Pictures

by Mike -

Here are some great pictures from the recent Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance where the Ferrari 250 GTO was featured. Photos by Drew Phillips.

Driving down Scenic Drive in Carmel-by-the-Sea

Some of my other articles on the ferrari 250 GTO are here, here, here and here.

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Ferrari 250 GTO - It's Always Something

by Mike - 

An interesting article about the Ferrari 250 GTO is at this link in Automobile today. We have discussed a controversy about weather the GTO was really homologated and the writer in Automobile, Robert Cumberford, seems to agree with my statements here that it was not homologated. His quote is below.

"FIA rules for racing cars mandated that 100 examples be built, but only thirty-six (or thirty-three? Or thirty-nine? In any case, not 100) of Giotto Bizzarrini's 3.0-liter, V-12 hot rod were ever produced. Never mind Enzo Ferrari's deception, as I'm pretty sure there are more than 100 250GTOs around today; it's a pretty easy car to counterfeit. True, you can't fake provenance, at least not very easily, but the car itself is really quite simple: a tube frame, a supertuned engine pushed back and down in the chassis, and a live rear axle."

The artist, Dante, will show off a 24 karat gold Ferrari 250 GTO sculpture at the Pebble Beach RetroAuto event from August 19 through August 21 which is near the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.

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Ferrari 250 GTO - Five Things - Part Two

by Mike -

Here are the other two things of interest about the Ferrari 250 GTO. Part one is here.

4) There was a big controversy in the early 1960s about the inability (or refusal) of Ferrari to homologate the 250 GTO. The Cobra and Corvette teams were quite upset because they were losing races to the GTO.

It is a complicated subject that involves the FIA changing the rules and other intrigue. But bascically a manufacturer was required to produce 100 examples of a GT race car within 12 months.

Ferrari only made 39 GTOs in total, well short of the 100 required. Somehow they got away with it, and as I said it is a complicated story.

The "O" in GTO stands for "omologato", Italian for homologated. Was Enzo Ferrari trying to fool everyone with a name, like a magician using mis-direction? The GTO was not "omologato".

5) Another question comes to my mind: what would the value of the 250 GTO be today if Ferrari had made 100 instead of only 39? Would the additional 61 GTOs have kept the value lower?

Are there another 61 people willing to pay $25 million for a real GTO? I believe that the law of supply and demand applies to GTOs too. Let me know what you think.

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Ferrari 250 GTO - Five Things - Part One

by Mike -

Here are five things of interest about the Ferrari 250 GTO. Actually only three things today and two more tomorrow.

1) The GTO is celebrating its 50th birthday this year and it will be showcased at the 2011 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in August 2011.

Martyn Schorr has covered this subject very well at The Car Guy Chronicles.

2) Ralph Lauren's Car Collection, at least some of his cars, will be on display in Paris at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs from 28 April – 28 August, 2011. Read more at Sports Car Digest.

Among these cars will be Lauren's Ferrari 250 GTO which was previously owned by Stephen Mitchell. I believe that Stephen misses this car and he writes about it occasionally.

I suspect that Mr. Lauren does not drive this Ferrari as hard at Stephen did. Read more on this subject here, follow the links to the video.

This GTO will not be at Pebble Beach unless it is going to leave Paris early. I hope it leaves Paris early for Pebble Beach because I will be in Pebble Beach, not Paris, in August.

3) The 1960s were a much simpler time than today. You could pick up an issue of Road & Track and find a classified advertisement for a used 250 GTO, below.

Today these cars rarely change hands and when they do it is usually handled very privately.

Part two will be published tomorrow.

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Ferrari 250 GTO

by Mike -

The Ferrari 250GTO must be on nearly everybody's list of one of the great cars of all time. It has taken on near mythical status.

This one above was at The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering, in 2009.

The 250GTO was engineered by Giotto Bizzarrini with a body styled by committee and it is still one of the most beautiful designs ever. It achieved racing success for its brief race life, the last front engine Ferrari to do so. There were only 39 250GTOs produced between 1962 and 1964, so how did Enzo get the car homologated when 100 examples were necessary?

With so few cars produced and the value of these cars increasing from $18,000 when new to $20 to $26 million today (according to the Hagerty's Cars That Matter Price Guide) there are not many people who have driven one of these cars and even fewer who have owned one.

Stephen Mitchell has had the fortunate experience of driving and owning one of these great art works. His story is told well in the Drive Cult article. I highly recommend reading this article and watching the two videos - it will only take a few minutes but you will never forget it.

The Ferrari 250GTO will be featured at the 2011 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.

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Below is another shot from The Quail in 2009.

This silver GTO was at the Palo Alto Concours d"Elegance in 2007.