Tom Talks: Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa #0704 - One of the worlds most important cars!

Today is a very special episode of Tom Talks in which we present the Ferrari 250 Testa

rossa

and not just any Ferrari 250 Testa

rossa

, but one that is considered the greatest of them all. Chassis number

0704

or 704, as his friends know it, was a factory prototype. It was the second 250 Testa Rossa ever built. It was a factory car that was driven by the best drivers in the world in that period and won many races. Later in life he spent more than 30 years at the Henry Ford Museum. His property is Providence. It is fantastic and,

most

important

ly, it is the only unrestored

testa

rossa in existence today.

This is a very special car. I sold it in 2014 and at that time it was the highlight of my career. I would still consider it the highlight of my career and I think it will always be the highlight of my career. The 250 Testarossa overall is a very special car. It arose because the world sports car championship announced in 1958 that it would limit the displacement of sports racing prototypes to 3 liters, which meant that Ferrari's monstrous 315 and 335 suddenly became obsolete altogether. Ferrari built 22,250 test lists in '57 and '58 and only five of those

cars

were factory

cars

, factory cars, I'm sure many of you are very familiar with them, but to emphasize the importance of an official car these were cars that had all the factory development behind them these are cars that the actual Ferrari factory the team raced although the regulations did not change until 1958 Ferrari, in preparation for the new season, introduced its new model, the 250 .

testa

rossa in 1957 and the cars they presented were the

0704

, the second factory prototype along with oh treble 6, the first factory prototype.

Now this particular car was born and introduced to the public and first raced with the pontoon style front fenders which were later changed because drivers discovered that the pontoon fenders were unstable at high speeds on long straights like Lamar and where this car was a true development car, it was the second prototype, it was the first testarossa with the sidepod fender and it was the first testa rossa that was later converted again. a factory car that was converted back to the wraparound style body it uses today is that no other factory car after the 704 went back to being a pontoon fender because they discovered on this car that the car performed much better at Lamar at any speed long and tall. directly with the envelope sealed, the bodywork was first raced in 1957 at Lamar, the car reached second place before retiring, then raced in the Swedish Grand Prix and then at the end of the season, raced in the Swedish Grand Prix. venezuela, all in preparation for its new season all for 58 all for the new regulations of the engine displacement limited to three liters so it ran together with the 315 it ran together with the 335 but they were only preparing it for the new season, then We reached the 1958 season and the first race of the new championship is Buenos Aires 704 was assigned to Peter Collins, the boy from Kittyminster, and Phil Hill, the boy from California, both two phenomenal drivers of their time, Phil Hill was the first american formula one world champion and i think peter collins had done it. a lot of style had a great way of driving extremely fast both were absolutely at the top of the tree at Ferrari at the time they were assigned to the 704 and they won the first race of the season the second race of the season was the 12 Hours of Sebring which probably it's second on the schedule after Lamar, it's a very

important

12 hour race, a tough endurance race and again Hill and Collins assigned to this car brought it home in first place which is just phenomenal you know , the car has an important victory.

So it's amazing to have two in the first two races of the 58 championship. You know, there aren't many cars that have done that third race, the Targa Florio, the same drivers were assigned to the car, so you can only assume that Ferrari thought it was So. a couple that shouldn't be separated maybe the old man was superstitious maybe the drivers were superstitious anyway the same drivers drove this car to Target Florida and came home in fourth place another good finish the car then went to the Nurburgring and because He did not maintain his winning streak, the drivers were changed, Peter Collins still remained with 704, but this time his teammate was the legendary Mike Hawthorne. now mike hawthorne also won the formula one world championship in 1958, so he was a driver in From now on, this car at the Nurburgring should have won the race, but he was winning by a considerable distance and then had a blowout in one of the tyres, which meant it came home in second place behind the Aston Martin DBR-1 but ahead of all the other 250 testarossas, so in the first four races of the championship season, this car finishes first, first, fourth, second, phenomenal, other than the small dent on the driver's rear spoiler on the hoods, which is evidence of that dent, the repair of that dent is still on this car.

Today the car had no major damage, it had phenomenal results, uh, results first first fourth second and then it headed to the

most

important race of the season, which was lamar at that time the car had scored more points than any other rossa tester any another works car any other customer car and it was the only car, the only rossa tester that competed in the first five rounds of the season, so it goes to le mans, the car is given again to Mike Hawthorne and Peter Collins. The car was running very well. fastest lap at Lamar that year, but it didn't finish and it didn't finish because apparently Mike Hawthorne wasn't a Le Mans fan and he squeezed the clutch so hard at the beginning that the clutch didn't last. and that was the reason he retired he didn't retire because he had a serious accident he had a fire none of that he retired because of a clutch failure which they blamed on Mike Hawthorne and apparently Mike Hawthorne and Peter Collins uh understood in the car returned and watched the end of the race, when a brother envelope had body 250 tessa rossa chassis 0728 1 and they were watching it from a pub in surrey, the last race of the 58 championship season was in goodwood and

ferrari

decided not to do it. participate to not send any cars because they had no need because they had already won the championship and they won the championship because of the points earned by this particular car, this car won more points than any other Tesla team in the championship, it won both of its races . came second at the nurburgring, fourth at the targa florio and

ferrari

decided that it was not necessary to race at goodwood, so they did not bother after its success in season 58 and after being an official development car for two years (57 and 58 ).

Ferrari sold the 704 to its West Coast North American dealer, John von Neumann. John immediately continued racing the car. He had his stepdaughter Josie von Neumann behind the wheel, a very fast young woman who actually had a lot of success with him and he also had a young Richie Ginther, now Richie, was another great driver and then raced in Formula One, which brings me to the appreciation that we should have for all the fantastic drivers that drove this car in that period, it's pretty unique because you know there's a lot of them. of official cars that maybe didn't have as many starts and were driven by one or two or maybe three drivers, but 704 the list of drivers associated with this car that drove this car is just phenomenal, first in 57 its first two starts. it was driven by john de bien and trintignon now john de bien let's think about it this guy won lamar four times he won the tour de france three times right now my son is obsessed with seeing this lamar 66 ford v ferrari and you know he was talking about how sad it was that Ken Miles couldn't beat Lamar at all and you know how difficult the race was and John de Bien beat Lamar four times and he beat him all those four times in a testarossa trintinyon, you know he won. lamont um so the car mazdan gregory drove the car uh you have mike hawthorne the 1958 formula one world champion who drove this car in 58 peter collins phil hill wolfgang siedel you have so many great drivers associated with him and anyway we went back to america n Um, so the car belonged to Jean von Neumann.

He was quite successful with the car, unfortunately his marriage was not so successful and he divorced his wife Eleanor and Eleanor ended up with the 704 and other very important cars. Andy's Ferrari dealership. he had an absolute nightmare, she immediately sold the 704 to a gentleman, a very well known guy at that period named jack nethercut uh jack nevicut, then she sold the car to someone named dick hahn uh dick hahn had a driver run, the car for he continued to race the car in north america a young driver named jerry grant jerry grant won at least 17 races in 704 17. he raced the car at least 28 times and this is what our researchers discovered at least 28 times he won at least 17 races and in all those races and thinking about the time when it was a works car, when it was a works car, the only damage it suffered was a small dent in the rear wing and when it was racing in North America it had some dents on the side of the driver. side on the front wing and door but there were never any serious crashes after jerry grant won all those races the car was sold to a young gentleman named arthur true now arthur true raced the car about six seven times and his number It was 38 and that's where this number comes from today, this gothic looking painted number and, unfortunately, Arthur True when he was very young passed away and, you know, he passed away from a serious illness and the car in which he left all his cars. , which was 704, a 300 SL gullwing and something else to the henry ford museum where this car resided for the next 30-odd years.

There is no doubt that this car was saved because it was donated to the museum in that period in the 60's and during the 70's there were many lots of excellent cars. of gtos and many tester ross with whom he simply messed around on the racing scene. The original engines were changed to Chevrolet units or Ford V8 units because they were more cost effective to operate and easier to maintain. You know, the bodies of some testos were changed and damaged. around not just with minor modifications but it was changed to a coupe style closed body design and today unfortunately it just means the cars use new bodies and cars that have lost their original engines where this car was preserved throughout those years because It was an absolute institution being the Henry Ford Museum.

I know a lot of customers of mine and I'm sure a lot of other people came to the museum and tried to find a way to buy the car when cars became much more collectible and much more valuable. In the late '80s and they just had no way to do it. You know, they've never been one to be motivated by money, so the offers they were getting didn't really mean much to them, but then an American gentleman called. jerry jerry helk planned something that he, his father, inherited from his father, a great American racing car from the early 20th century, a 16-cylinder locomotive, and he convinced the museum that that locomotive was historically much more important to an institution American than an old Ferrari racing car.

The car and Ford accepted that and managed to do a parts exchange and the car left the museum and was immediately sold to a great collector, a knowledgeable collector named abba kogan and abba kogan kept the car basically intact exactly as it was in the museum Henry Ford for about the next seven years and then sold the car to Pierre Morin and Pierre Morin decided to do a full mechanical tune up of the car which was carried out in the UK and then Pierre Morin sold the car a few years later. to another discerning collector named Eric Harima who I bought the car from in late 2013.

I then sold it in early 2014 and had the privilege of the new owner not wanting to take the car to Pebble Beach and he asked me to and he offered. the opportunity for me if I would take the car because 2014 was Ross's year at Pebble Beach, there was a fantastic variety of testarossas lined up and I look back on it now and you know all those beautiful cars. and some fantastic testarossas and tr-59s, tr-60s and 61s were all lined up and they were all shining beautifully restored and then you had this old unrestored original car in the middle and everyone was drawn to it like a magnet and everyone was coming up to me and talking about it and saying it's phenomenal.

I remember Sir Jackie Stewart coming up to me on the grass and commenting that it was easily his favorite car at the event and he still

talks

about it now when I bump into it and The car that year received four special awards, including the Uh award from the postwar rush for the best preserved car in the show, which is a great attribute for any car because Pebble Beach is the event on the automotive calendar where all the special cars are found. and you know, you also have to consider it a little bit and think that I'm aused car salesman and car people knew that this was not my personal car that was at the event that year and the judges prefer to award the big guys. prizes and having the owners on stage to receive the big prizes.

I made it public that I was showing the car in 2014 on behalf of the owner, who did not own the car at the time, but it still won everyone. of those awards was a fantastic experience and again brought me closer to the car in a technical detail: these three liter v12 engines produced 300 brake horsepower which must have been phenomenally fast in the late 50s, even when I drive the car today It feels very fast and the car handles extremely well with all customers. 250 tester lists, of which there were 17, were equipped with a four-speed fully synchronized gearbox;

However, official cars, such as the 704, benefited from a transmission. Now when we look inside the engine bay, there are so many. There are so many things to highlight about this car, that is the sign of its originality, but and because the car was a work of art. Because it ran in all these important international races, we benefit from having many period images of the car and when you have Period footage is great to be able to compare to current footage in all the different areas of the car and when you look inside the engine bay it is one of the most important areas to see the development and transformation of the cars throughout the races. and over the years until today, and when I look here, I see the first thing you notice that on the engine itself you see the Lamar csai scrutineers stamping the engine block when it ran at Lamar in '57 and '58.

You see it, you know , in some of the first images. I think it was a picture of Sebring. See the car originally ran as an official car with four coils, two of them spares and then when the car left the factory it came with two coils and today you can see where the holes for the four coils have been covered up. all its originality and this work that was done when it left the factory back in late '58 is seen where the cars change from a central accelerator and it is known if that work would have been done by someone who restored the car or if the car would have gotten some Once in his life, all this would have been ordered, but when the car was racing and the technicians, whether it was Mario Luigi or Paulo, didn't think about making this car look beautiful, they thought about you.

I know we are going to prepare it for the next race and throughout the engine bay there are many areas where you can see the development of the car. The only thing I really love too is showing that the car retains its original body. It has its original bodywork from day one and when you look inside the wings, if you remember, I mentioned that this car started life as the first testa rossa pontoon fender and is now in the wraparound design because the pontoon fender is unstable at high speeds. This car didn't have a new nose tip grafted on or it didn't have a completely new nose, which probably would have been pretty easy for Scalietti at the time, but the actual bodywork, the modifications that were done from the sidepod.

From the fender to the body all the welding is still evident today, which is fantastic and then we talked about it in Buenos Aires, in its first race, it had a small dent that managed to occur while the car was racing on the rear of the driver. wing and when you look inside today you can see the repaired patch from its first race in 58 you know we are now in 2020 62 years later the car raced at least won at least 17 races with um jerry Grant which was after his It works but It still took the dent from its first '58 race.

It's absolutely phenomenal. You know, you look at all the Testarossas and I know these cars particularly well. You know I studied them all and there is no other Testa Rossa that benefits from these huge, beautiful bulbous rear fins, like this car does when it was at Pebble Beach in 2014 and was lined up with all the other cars, including some of the other cars with wraparound bodywork and if you look at these tail fins, they sit a lot prouder there's a lot more curves it's just it's a beautiful beautiful beautiful design and a survivor and exactly what it was like when enzo ferrari walked through the factory or when he raced in any of those major races or when he went to the henry ford museum this is a survivor a car that needs to be preserved and i think if you ask any of the most prominent collectors in the world to name their five best cars today there is a real emphasis on originality because you can go and buy any car that has been destroyed or has had a very bad life and you can go and give it to the best restorers in the world, go and give it to paul russell and spend a million or two million dollars and the car can resurrected and it can look beautiful and it can look exactly the same as maybe that car that won that big race in any year, however, if you ask yourself this question and if you really compare cars to art and say, okay, what's left? of this car? compared to when sebring branazeras lamar won, whatever nurburgring was, whatever major race or whatever he did in the past, over time, and you ask yourself the question and say: what's left in that car?

Is it the same chassis? Is the same? the body is the same engine, there are not many cars that meet those requirements, however, there are none or I can't think of any that meet as many requirements as the 704, original engine, original transmission, original chassis, original body, injuries and original scars and evidence left over from those races where the best drivers in the world drove this car, it's just that this is an unrepeatable car and it's a car that I've been very proud to be associated with and it's a car that I always I will be proud to be associated. with and I hope you enjoyed hearing about it.