The Ferrari 250 GT “Breadvan” is not a Ferrari creation. It is actually a Bizzarrini creation. The story goes that one Count Volpi wasn’t allowed to buy a Ferrari 250 GTO by Enzo Ferrari, since Volpi had been hiring former Ferrari employees at Automobili Turismo e Sport, which Volpi financially backed. Volpi hired on Giotto Bizzarrini to take a 1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB Competition (S/N 2819 GT) and requested that it be upgraded so that it could compete against the GTO on the track. With his prior experience with the GTO project still fresh, Bizzarrini went to work on the aerodynamic properties of the car. He moved the engine and transmission further back in the chassis and fitted a dry-sump oiling system, which allowed the car to be lowered. But it’s the body that Bizzarrini designed with body specialist Piero Drogo that is most memorable: a shooting brake design with a Kamm tail that was even slicker than the GTO. Combine the aerodynamics with a lower weight than the GTO, and the Breadvan was truly something that Enzo should’ve worried about.
On it’s first major outing after the build, the 1962 24 Hours of LeMans, the Breadvan laid waste to all of the Ferrari GTOs and was seventh overall when the driveshaft called it quits in the fourth hour of the race. The Breadvan continued to race through 1965 before it was withdrawn, yet it’s remained active, showing up at events since 1973. We don’t know if the car pictured is S/N 2819, the original car, or one of the two cars converted after the Breadvan proved itself (both 250 GT SWB cars, S/N 2053 GT and S/N 2735 GT) but no matter…they were real Ferraris before the transformation, they are real Ferraris after the transformation, and they are still valued so highly that seeing the cars ripping around a track is worth the watch.
What’s Italian for “The most expensive pile of ugly shit ever”
Answers on a post card to The LS Appreciation Society – because those numbnuts probably think its gorgeous….
The chavs are up early today
Coming from some jobby with gap teeth and nicotine fingers that’s rich.
Geordie dear – it’s a beer google car – not much to look at but when the lights are out it makes the most wonderful joyful succulent noises