This Uncommon 1953 Ferrari 250 MM Spider Might Fetch $5 Million at Public sale

The annual auctions held at Amelia Island, Fla., are celebrated events for traditional automobile lovers and collectors around the globe. On March 3, Gooding & Company holds its sale at Racquet Park, Omni Amelia Island Resort, and it’s one certain to tempt Ferraristi with an appreciation for probably the most vital automobiles of the Italian marque’s illustrious previous.

That previous goes again practically 76 years to 1947, when Enzo Ferrari constructed the primary Prancing Horse to put on the enamel Cavallino emblem bearing his title. To have a look at a Ferrari from the primary decade of the corporate’s historical past apart a contemporary supercar just like the limited-production Ferrari 812 Competizione requires a suspension of disbelief that each may someway be associated, so totally different is one from the opposite. But the fashionable machines are reputable descendants, alive solely as a result of their blood programs with the DNA of their ancestors.

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A 1953 Ferrari 250 MM Spider Series II with coachwork by Vignale.

The 1953 Ferrari 250 MM Spider Sequence II being auctioned by Gooding & Firm on March 3.

An particularly notable patriarch is the 1953 Ferrari 250 MM Spider Sequence II that can be showcased by Gooding & Firm at Retromobile in Paris, from February 1 by means of 5, upfront of the Amelia Island public sale. That is an traditionally vital automobile, whose even serial quantity (versus odd) establishes it as a real competitors Ferrari, and one among solely 12 examples of the Vignale-bodied spider constructed on a Ferrari 250 MM (Mille Miglia) competitors chassis.

This was the primary series-built competitors mannequin to bear the 250 title. The center and soul of early Ferraris was a V-12 engine, however two faculties of thought pertained. Engine designs by engineers Lampredi and Colombo every noticed success, and the 250 MM was match with a Colombo-designed 3.0-liter V-12 with Lampredi-style heads, which featured particular person porting, hairpin valve springs and four-choke Weber carburetors. The engine develops 240 bhp at 7,200 rpm, formidable output for its day, and efficiency is additional enhanced by the relative mild weight of the Vignale physique.

The Colombo-designed 3.0-liter V-12 engine inside a 1953 Ferrari 250 MM Spider Series II.

The automobile’s Colombo-designed 3.0-liter V-12 develops 240 bhp at 7,200 rpm.

The profitable mixture of lightness and prodigious efficiency garnered the automobile acclaim on the 1953 Giro di Sicilia and, in April of the identical 12 months, on the Pebble Seashore Street Races. It was on the latter competitors that Phil Hill was victorious behind the wheel—his first time driving the 250 MM Spider. Victories at Monza and the Coppa d’Oro della Dolomiti quickly adopted by the hands of Luigi Villoressi and Paolo Marzotto, respectively. The Ferrari’s debut was an auspicious one.

The 250 MM Spider Sequence II is a really uncommon Ferrari, particularly contemplating its coachwork. Of simply 31 examples constructed, 20 wore Pininfarina Berlinetta (coupe) our bodies, whereas 13 have been bodied by Vignale, all however one in spider kind. Alfredo Vignale was a grasp coachbuilder, and his carrozzeria hammered our bodies for about 155 competitors and road-going Ferraris in interval. These automobiles bear the signature of designer Giovanni Michelotti, an undisputed grasp whose pen designed cars for a lot of marques of the day and within the following decade. His Fifties aesthetic is notable for its rounded, compact proportions, oval portholes, triangular rear-fender openings and capacious grilles—Michelotti was a trendsetter many years earlier than the “grille wars” of the twenty first century.

A close-up of the front grille on a 1953 Ferrari 250 MM Spider Series II.

Designer Giovanni Michelotti’s Fifties aesthetic is particularly evident on this Ferrari’s rounded, compact proportions and capacious grille.

This automobile, chassis No. 0274 MM, was the primary of three examples constructed with a staggered seat association and long-range 150-liter gas tank, all doubtless specified by the unique proprietor, Florentine racing driver Piero Scotti. He entered the Ferrari within the 1953 Mille Miglia and Targa Florio, failing to complete both occasion attributable to mechanical points. However the automobile continued to compete and went on to attain appreciable success in its debut 12 months earlier than being owned and raced by notable drivers all through the late Fifties, together with quite a lot of Brazilian homeowners.

The interior of a 1953 Ferrari 250 MM Spider Series II.

Chassis No. 0274 MM was the primary of three examples constructed with a staggered seat association.

Lastly coming to america, No. 0274 MM had subsequent homeowners and was ultimately acquired by famed Ferrari historian Jess Pourret. Throughout his stewardship, the automobile was restored and a spare engine block, later stamped with the unique serial quantity, was put in. This authentic block, stamped with inside No. 018, was retained and accompanies the car right now. The automobile has additionally been documented by Ferrari Historian Marcel Massini.

A 1953 Ferrari 250 MM Spider Series II with coachwork by Vignale.

Florentine racing driver Piero Scotti entered the Ferrari within the 1953 Mille Miglia and Targa Florio.

Whether or not a valuable ruby or a superb pink vehicle, the valuation of any beautiful jewel is in the end depending on the response of the collector market on the very second the gavel hovers. Gooding & Firm estimates this Ferrari gem to convey between $3 million and $5 million. As with so many rarities when appraised looking back, it’s straightforward to think about these estimates seeming laughably modest within the years to return.

Click on here for extra images of this 1953 Ferrari 250 MM Spider Sequence II.

A 1953 Ferrari 250 MM Spider Series II with coachwork by Vignale.

The 1953 Ferrari 250 MM Spider Sequence II being auctioned by Gooding & Firm on March 3, 2023.

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