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Friday 6 March 2015

Friday's Ferrari

The two cars shown in the photograph below were awaiting the auction which always took place at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone, on this occasion in July 1998.
The yellow car is a 1957 Ferrari 250 GT Ellena. serial number 0695GT. The Wikipedia article on the Ferrari 250 says this about the Boano/Ellena:

'250 GT Boano and Ellena
Pinin Farina introduced a 250-based prototype at the 1956 Geneva Motor Show which came to be called the 250 GT Boano. Intended as a styling exercise and inspiration to 250 GT Europa customers, the car generated demand that soon called for a production series.
Unable to meet the demand without expansion, Pinin Farina asked Mario Boano, formerly of Ghia, to handle the construction. When Fiat later recruited Boano, he handed production duties to his son-in-law Ezio Ellena. With partner Luciano PolloCarrozzeria Ellena would produce the 250 GT for another few years. Ellena revised the car, raising the roof and removing the vent windows from the doors. These examples became known as the 250 GT Ellena.
Carrozzeria Boano built 74 250 GTs on the long-wheelbase chassis. Carrozzeria Ellena built another 50 Coupés.
All but one were coupés. The single convertible, 0461 GT, was sold to New York collector Bob Lee off the stand at the 1956 New York Auto Show. At the direction of Enzo Ferrari, Lee bought the car for $9,500, far below cost. He still owns it, making it one of the oldest Ferraris still in the hands of the original purchaser.'
The silver car, which appears to be a Porsche 550, is actually a replica constructed to resemble the car owned by James Dean, to which he had given the name 'Little Bastard', and in which he was killed in a road accident on 30th September 1955. The replica is based on Volkswagen Beetle mechanicals and this is an earlier auction description of the car:
'1970/89 TECHNIC REPLICA PORSCHE 550 SPYDER 

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