Unique ONES In the 1960s era, the Ferrari cars always dominated in various world racing events. And one of the iconic prancing horse logoed race cars of the 1960s was the Ferrari 250 P Fantuzzi Spyder, which was the first 12-cylinder mid-engined Ferrari race car and was debuted at Monza on March 4, 1963.
The Ferrari 250 P race car did not take long to establish its name on the track, the most prestigious victories came at Sebring, Le Mans, and the Nürburgring throughout 1963 and 1964. No less interesting, it turns out that from this race car was born later another no less famous sportscar called the Ferrari 275 P2, and it was newly from here that the car we are talking about was born.
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| 1968 Ferrari 275 P2 Speciale designed by Michelotti and was built on the chassis of the 1963 275 P2 race car. (Picture from: Carstyling.ru) |
The iconic car mentioned above came about thanks to the interactions, and the work of four key figures such as, Luigi 'Coco' Chinetti Jr., Robert Peak (the famous American commercial artist and illustrator with iconic film posters and advertisements made between the 1960s to 1980s) , Giovanni Michelotti, and of course the big boss of the Prancing Horse brand, Enzo Ferrari!
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| 1968 Ferrari 275 P2 Speciale designed by Michelotti based off Bob Peak's sketches on the initiative of Coco Chinetti Jr. (Picture from: Carstyling.ru) |
It could be said that Luigi Chinetti Jr. (the son of Luigi Chinetti Sr., a former racer, business partner and friend of Enzo Ferrari since they were at Alfa Romeo) has major roles in this cases. Thanks to his efforts in the early 60s whose managed to persuade Enzo Ferrari to give permission to build a special version of Ferrari specifically aimed to the American market. And the results are also not bad, this is seen through the quite high popularity of the Chinetti Jr. car.
The Chinetti Jr. sportscar which debuted at the 1968 New York Auto Show, known as Ferrari 275 P2 Speciale was a Ferrari rear-engined racing sports prototype built on the basis of the Ferrari 275 P2. As quoted from the CarstylingRU, the donor car was the 1963 Ferrari 275 P2 sports racing unit (chassis number #0812) which had raced and succeded at three major World Championship races in 1964: Sebring, Nurburgring and Le Mans.
Unfortunately, the car had an accident and caught fire in late of the 1965, and turned out that the race car caught the attention of Luigi Chinetti Jr. to rebuild it. At the same time Coco Chinetti Jr. had managed to find a potential buyer, so he contacted his old friend Bob Peak to sketch a futuristic-styled 2-seater sportscar.
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| 1968 Ferrari 275 P2 Speciale designed by Michelotti was inspired by the design of the AMT Piranha Spy Car. (Picture from: Allcarindex) |
Indeed the client wanted a car designed in a style inspired by the sportscar of the future (named the AMT Piranha Spy Car) featured in a popular 1960s American TV series entitled The Man from U.N.C.L.E. It was later found that the client who funded the project was a young woman.
After the car sketches finished, Robert Peak and Coco Chinetti Jr. went to Milan to meet Giovanni Michelotti and asked him to build this sports car based on a previously drawn sketch by Peak. After going through quite tough discussions and negotiations, at that time Michelotti refused and made Chinetti Jr. very disappointed and upset.
Then Coco Chinetti Jr. met Enzo Ferrari (through the help of his father Luigi Chinetti Sr. off course) to tell Michelotti's refusal and at the same time presented the great potential of his project. In short, then Enzo Ferrari decided to help Coco Chinetti Jr. to make the project into reality.
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| The authenticity of the Ferrari 275 P2 Speciale was doubted so that Coco Chinetty Jr. was sued in court by Ferrari in 1999. (Picture from: Carstyling.ru) |
After the Ferrari's big boss spoke to Giovanni Michelotti, the designer finally agreed to build a prancing horse racing car at the factory. Then the donor car which was partially damaged and burned was sent to Italy from Canada. Then the chassis was repaired, a new engine was placed in the car, and a new body and interior were installed by Michelotti.
Finally, a "new" Ferrari concept was born which originated from the Bob Peak sketches. It's the 275 P2 updated design, with a smoother, more curved front end and a more luxurious body and interior similar to a true Grand Turismo!
Finally, a "new" Ferrari concept was born which originated from the Bob Peak sketches. It's the 275 P2 updated design, with a smoother, more curved front end and a more luxurious body and interior similar to a true Grand Turismo!
The car is not only exotic featured with a pair of gull wing styled doors and is also quite comfortable to drive because it is powered by a 4-liter V12 engine capable of producing up to 410 hp at 8,000 rpm, theoretically it can make the sportscar accelarates up to 300 kph. Wow!!
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| 1968 Ferrari 275 P2 Speciale designed by Michelotti is powered by a 4-liter V12 engine capable of producing up to 410 hp at 8,000 rpm, theoretically can make the car accelarates up to 300 kph. (Picture from: Carstyling.ru) |
We apologize that the following video is not about the Ferrari 275 P2 Speciale but about the Ferrari 275 P2.
The car's story continued, when in 1999, Luigi Chinetti Jr. sent 2 units of Ferrari 275 P2 Speciale (with chassis numbers #0812 and #0814) for reconstruction by Marco Baldi of Protauto in Sorbara near Modena, Italy. However, those reconstructions were not easy, due to the Maranello-based car manufacturer doubted the authenticity of the cars.
So then Ferrari filed a lawsuit against Luigi Chinetti Jr. with a claim that those two cars are replicas and asked to be confiscated by the court order. After undergoing the trial process over more than 3 years, Ferrari finally lost the lawsuit and the court ruled to recognize that those two cars are original cars.
In fact, we've been heard later there's one more unit (with chassis number #0818) also received a certification from Ferrari as a genuine car. So then, currently there are 3 cars that are officially recognized by the prancing horse logoed auto manufacturer as the original Ferrari 275 P2 Speciale (i.e. with the chassis numbers #0812, #0814 and #0818). *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | FERRARI | WIKIPEDIA | CARSTYLING.RU | CARROZZIERI-ITALIANI | FACEBOOK | ALLCARINDEX | COACHBUILD | ROSSOAUTOMOBILI | ZH.WHEELSAGE.ORG | CLASSICDRIVERS | C-WE ]
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