From 1954 to 1959, Ferrari manufactured approximately 100 long wheel base (LWB) chassis, 250 GT coupes. They were aimed primarily at doing battle in sports car endurance racing events world wide. These beautiful cars hold the distinction of being the longest running road and race production series in Ferrari's history! Shortly after their introduction, one of the very first variants won at the 1956 Bahamas Race Week, held in Nassau. This win was to be the beginning of Ferrari's domination of GT racing with three-liter sports cars.
As they crushed their competition in races like the Tour de France (TdF), as well as other important sports car events, these Ferrari's became the ride of choice among top drivers of the period. Starting in the city of Nice and taking several days and over 3000 miles to run, The Tour de France was a prestigious event in GT racing of that time. In true rally fashion, it tested car design and ability, as well as driver's skill and endurance. The Tour de France punished both car and driver in grueling road rally, circuit and hill climb stages. This mega-race was so hard that in some years of it's running; 70% of entrants would never finish to take the checkered flag! After Ferrari took the top three places at the 1957 TdF, the organizers lent their event's name to this winning car that seemed to own the race.
The one thing that is common to these one hundred legendary cars is their 3 liter engine. The design of this engine was headed by Gioacchino Colombo and would be the smaller of two engines developed by Ferrari. After a very serious accident at LeMans in 1955, the three liter displacement limit was imposed by race officials in an attempt to slow cars, get them slightly more balanced in the area of power to weight and ultimately lessen the chance of high speed accidents. This powerplant was the answer to those new restrictions. Ferrari's new three liter engine was still fully capable of producing 230 to 250 horsepower with plenty of torque to slingshot the little GT car to winning speeds.
Each LWB chassis received a hand-crafted body. The look was based on several Pinin Farina show cars. Most bodies were built by Scaglietti & Co, however, Zagato (of Milan) who was revered for their lightweight construction techniques, bodied some consistently competitive examples. Continuous development, and bodies crafted by hand make no two 250 GT Berlinettas the same. Changes made to the body from year to year, as well as subtle details such as sliding or wind-up windows, cowled, covered or open headlights; not to mention an array of hood louvers and scoops give each car a unique personality. The first TdF's were fashioned after the Ferrari 250 Mille Miglia, both sporting rear ends much like Aston Martin's DB5. Later appearance changes included smaller rear windscreens, the addition of C pillar louvers to aid cockpit cooling and more pronounced rear fenders. By 1959, a new front end included open headlights to comply with Italian law.
To see these cars in action is breathtaking. They are beautiful to watch and deadly to compete against. I've seen old black and white footage of the 1960 Grand Prix D'Europe (TdF) which shows these cars at their competitive best. You need to watch them in action to fully understand what they were to auto racing history and fine car design.
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