Raced by a trio of American legends, a very special Ferrari 750 Monza heads to auction

Ferrari 750 Monza chassis 0510M. Photos by Darin Schnabel, courtesy RM Sotheby's.

It was raced in-period, with impressive success, by Phil Hill, Carroll Shelby and Jim Hall. For the past six decades, it's been in Hall's private collection, and it's reportedly one of the few four-cylinder Ferrari sports racers of the day to retain its original drivetrain. Restored in the mid-1990s, the 1955 Ferrari 750 Monza campaigned by three American racing greats heads to auction in Monterey this August.

Ferrari sports racers of the early 1950s are most often associated with small displacement V-12 engines, but following the success of Maranello's four-cylinder Formula 1 engine program in 1952 and 1953, their use carried over to sports cars in 1953. Though perhaps counter-intuitive, four-cylinder engines of a similar displacement can offer advantages over V-12s in the form of greater low-end torque, lower weight and reduced complexity, which in racing tends to deliver greater reliability.

Introduced in 1954, the Ferrari 750 Monza used a 3.0-liter, four-cylinder, double overhead camshaft engine fed by a pair of Weber 58DCOA3 carburetors, producing an impressive 250 horsepower. Top speed was said to be 265 km/h (164 MPH), and to improve weight distribution, the car used a five-speed transaxle instead of a conventional transmission. The independent front suspension featured double wishbones, a transverse leaf spring and hydraulic dampers, while the rear used a DeDion tube, transverse leaf spring and hydraulic damper setup. Drum brakes, still the standard of the day, were used in all four corners.

The 750 Monza was designed to be light and nimble, allowing it to successfully compete with more powerful (and thus, heavier) sports racers from rival manufacturers. With a curb weight of 1,650 pounds, the 750 was 220 pounds lighter than the 225 S of 1952, and 330 pounds lighter than the 375 MM of 1953, both of which retained Ferrari V-12 powerplants.

Chassis 0510M, the car to be sold in Monterey, was originally purchased by Allen Guiberson of Dallas, Texas, in early 1955. Painted in the white with blue livery it wears today, the Ferrari's racing debut came at Sebring in 1955, where Phil Hill and Carroll Shelby drove to a second-place finish. The car's next outing was at Pebble Beach in April, where driver Phil Hill delivered a win in the Del Monte Trophy race for owner Guiberson.

The Guiberson 750 Monza was one of several examples raced by Hill throughout the 1955 season, earning him a total of seven victories and six second-place finishes. Despite his success with the 750 Monza, Hill admits he was not a fan of the car, writing in Ferrari: A Champion's View:

Without a doubt, 750 Monza brought a great deal of glory to both Ferrari and myself when we both needed that sort of publicity in the United States. But here's the contradiction: I never particularly liked the 750 Monzas. Having raced quite a few different V-12 Ferraris since the middle of 1952, I loved the sound, power and smoothness of those engines, not this shaking flatulent-cow four.

Ahead of the 1956 season, Guiberson sold 0510M to brothers Richard and Jim Hall, who tasked fellow Texan Carroll Shelby with driving duties. Bovine flatulence or not, the Ferrari was most definitely to Shelby's liking, and in three races he achieved a pair of wins (at Pebble Beach and at Eagle Mountain) and a second-place finish (also at Eagle Mountain).

Carroll Shelby with 0510M in 1956. Photo courtesy Jim Hall.

In 1957, Jim Hall purchased his brother's stake in 0510M, becoming its sole owner. Hall raced the car at Santa Barbara in May, finishing sixth in the preliminary race and seventh in the main, and the following month earned a second-place finish at Eagle Mountain in the car's last reported outing. Hall's allegiance then shifted from Ferrari to Maserati, though the young driver also achieved success behind the wheel with a Chevrolet Corvette and a Lotus 11 during the 1957 season.

As Hall focused on his racing career (and later, the growth of Chaparral Cars), the 750M sat in storage, preserved by Hall before being put away. Four decades would pass before Hall got around to restoring the car, but in 1997 the 750 Monza was reborn in time for a tribute to Carroll Shelby at the August Monterey Historics. Painted red at the start of the 1957 season, the car was returned to its original white with blue regalia, the color scheme raced by Carroll Shelby in 1956. Chassis 0510M also appeared at Pebble Beach in 2005, in a tribute to Phil Hill and Sir Stirling Moss.

In the years since its restoration, the Ferrari has also been campaigned at numerous vintage racing events, and despite the regular use, the car remains in good overall condition.  As a piece of both Ferrari and American racing history, the 750 Monza will surely spur spirited bidding when it crosses the auction block in California this August, and RM Sotheby's is predicting a selling price between $4 million and $5.5 million.

The Monterey sale will take place from August 18-20 at the Portola Hotel & Spa in Monterey, California. For additional information, visit RMSothebys.com.

 

from Hemmings Daily – News for the collector car enthusiast http://ift.tt/29axojP