Story by Alan Boe
Photos by Alan Boe unless otherwise noted
The Kimberly Years
A month after its win at Spa, Luigi Chinetti, Sr. and Lord Selsdon of England placed their barchetta eighth in the Grand Prix of the Auto Club of Paris at Montlhéry, which turned out to be its last race on continental soil. But by no means was s/n 0010 M done racing. In early 1950, the car was sold through Chinetti to Jim Kimberly of Chicago, Illinois, heir to the Kimberly Clark industrial empire.
Kimberly in 0010 M leads Cunningham in the Healey Silverstone and Jim Pauley in the Nardi-Danese up the hill at the Glen in 1950. He finished 4th overall in the Grand Prix and first in class F. Photo by Bob Temple courtesy Dale LaFollette and used with permission.
Kimberly raced the barchetta successfully in 1950 and 1951, posting wins at the Studebaker Proving Grounds in Indiana on June 17 and at Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin on July 23, 1950, and placing second on the index and first in class (with his mechanic, Marshall Lewis) on New Year’s Eve at Sebring, Florida, in the Six Hour Sam Collier Memorial Race.
Several Ferraris competed at Sebring’s first race in December, 1950. One was Number 55, the Jim Kimberly-Marshall Lewis 166MM which placed second. Photo courtesy Frank Campanale collection and used with permission.
The following year, Lewis, who had extensive racing experience, rode the red barchetta to a win at Palm Springs, California, on April 1 when Kimberly was called home suddenly due to his father’s illness. Not only did this make s/n 0010 M the first Ferrari to race in California, it was also the first to win there. Kimberly’s last competition drives in s/n 0010 M came on the weekend of May 26 and 27, 1951, on California’s Monterey Peninsula.
Lewis at Palm Springs, April 1, 1951 with 0010 M. Jim Sitz was there. “It was terribly exciting when he brought the 166 M to California. No one at the race would ever forget that SOUND! Marsh Lewis towed the car out to California from Chicago behind Buick station wagon. With all of our fancy cars in California, we had to wait for Kimberly to bring a Ferrari out from the Midwest.” Photo by Bob Caanan.
In the Saturday Del Monte handicap race, the barchetta finished sixth and then on Sunday, while running third in the Pebble Beach Cup Race, Kimberly spun on lap twenty on oil laid down by a blown MG engine. The barchetta rotated to the inside of the track, dug in, and flipped, landing on top of Kimberly who was held inside by his World War II surplus seat belts! The damaged barchetta was returned to Chicago for repairs and then sold to Jim Simpson. Repainted yellow, Simpson campaigned the car in SCCA races in 1952 and 1953.
Kimberly at Pebble Beach, May 27, 1951. Recalls Sitz, “Every time I saw Kimberly he always had beautiful lady with him—Ginger Rogers at Pebble Beach to console him after flipping the 166 and then Esther Williams at March Field later on.” Photo by Bob Caanan.
Restoration Number One
No longer competitive, 0010 M began a twenty six year odyssey which saw it go through a series of owners in the U.S. until, in 1980, it was acquired by Warren Sanke of San Francisco who oversaw a much needed rebuild. As it turned out, this was the first of two full scale restorations given to the barchetta.
Renewed, the car began its second life with Sanke who use it for vintage racing and as a show car – the barchetta won several major west coast concours awards, including a First Place in the Ferrari Competition Class at Pebble Beach in 1984 and the Hans Tanner Trophy given to the best Ferrari at Pebble Beach that year. In 1985 Sanke sold the car to George Jewett of San Mateo, California. In Jewett’s care the 0010 M captured several more concours ribbons, was vintage raced, and participated in the 1987 historic Mille Miglia Rally in Italy. In June of 1990, s/n 0010 M was sold to a Swiss collector, but six years later it was back in the U.S. where it was found by Jon Shirley of Medina, Washington, via the 1996 Christie’s Auction at Pebble Beach.
In August of 1997, all cleaned up but still awaiting its ultimate restoration, the barchetta was invited to the Meadow Brook Concours in Michigan which that year was honoring Ferrari on its 50th anniversary. Not only did s/n 0010 M come away with the trophy for the Best Ferrari in the show, it also took the award for the best Race Car in the Concours. And then a month later owners Jon and Mary Shirley completed a very wet Colorado Grand in the now appropriately named ‘little boat.’
Restoration number two
At this point, the car was turned over to Pete Lovely Racing in Puyallup, Washington, where, under the skilled hands of Butch Dennison, the barchetta was returned to its 1949 Spa, Belgium, configuration, complete with the number board on the rear deck, the screen covered headlights, white trim around the grille, its Spa racing numbers, and the pair of driving lights that had been installed for Le Mans in 1949.
For the 1997/98 restoration, the barchetta was completely disassembled down to the last nut and bolt and totally rebuilt over a two year period. Lots of interesting things reveal themselves during restorations of this sort. For example, when the engine was torn down it was discovered that the thrust bearing for the crankshaft was basically worn away, such that the crank would run on the block when the clutch pedal was depressed. Hard to explain how the car managed to finish the Colorado Grand. In addition to restoring the barchetta to its Spa livery, the car had to be made fully race worthy as it was going to be campaigned in vintage events, so great care was given to the rebuilding of the suspension, brakes, gearbox, and motor. The engine was disassembled by Dennison, Shirley and David Lewontin of Vintage Racing Motors in Redmond, Washington, and rebuilt by Lewontin, while the task of researching the barchetta’s Spa aesthetics and technical details was undertaken by Jon Shirley.
0010 M at Pebble Beach where it three awards in 1999.
How successful was the second restoration? Its first rebuild appearance came at the 1999 Ferrari Club of America national Concours in Georgia, where the barchetta hit the trifecta coming away with a Platinum Concours award, the trophy for the Best Competition Car, and the prestigious Coppa GT Award. Then came Pebble Beach and a First in the Ferrari Competition Class, plus the Luigi Chinetti Trophy given to the Best Ferrari on the 18th fairway. A month later it was a First in Class at the Louis Vuitton Concours in New York City, and then the barchetta again became a driver. The New England Forza Mille Rally was next. Here s/n 0010 M won its Rally Class, participated in all the track events, and came away with the Vintage Spirit Award because, in addition to slogging through heavy rain, all necessary mechanical work on the car was done on the spot by the owner/driver. And then it was on to the Cavallino Classic in Palm Beach, Florida. Following a Third in Class finish in the Ferrari Historic Challenge Race for drum braked cars at nearby Moroso, the barchetta, all cleaned up and looking fresh, came through with a Platinum Concorso Award, and the Cavallino Cup presented to the Best Ferrari in the Cavallino Classis Concorso.
Denny Cornett and the barchetta
Back in late 1953, 0010 M found it fifth owner when it was sold by Ebby Lunken of Cincinnati, Ohio, to Denver (Denny) Cornett of Bagdad, Kentucky. Intending to race the barchetta in 1954, Cornett got it on the circuit at Camp Atterbury in Indiana for an SCCA event, but all he took out of the race was a blistered hand from trying to hold the car in gear – it would pop out of any cog under acceleration. Cornett contacted Luigi Chinetti for new gearbox parts and was told they would not be available until that fall. “There went the racing season.” Cornett’s words. Besides a hillclimb in French Lick, Indiana, it was the only racing the barchetta did in 1954.
Denver Cornett behing the wheel of an MG, Otto Linton at right. Photo taken in 2005 by John Wright and used with permission.
But Cornett still fondly remembers the barchetta many years later – it’s a hard car to forget. “The body was very thin and the fender tops were kinda flat from all the people leaning on them and the numerous crash repairs,” he recalled. At the end of the 1954 season, Cornett traded the car to Bob Fergus of Columbus, Ohio, for an Arnolt Bristol but he kept a few parts such as the under cowl oil tank, a pair of conrods from number ten and eleven pistons, and the transmission cover. The parts went to Jon Shirley for the 1997/98 restoration. The oil tank is interesting. It has two taps which dispense one liter of oil each to the engine, a necessity for long distance races.
Denny Cornett is a one of a kind. A charter life member of the SCCA, he owned and raced the silver and black MG TC that he drove to a seventh place finish in the inaugural race at Watkins Glen in 1948 . Although his first Ferrari was 0010 M, he also owned a 340 Mexico Vignale berlinetta, s/n 0222 AT that later belonged to David Sydorick. He remembers having to open a door to let the water out after getting caught in a downpour in the car and what a handful it was to drive on the street, but he says it was exactly the opposite on the race track.
Read Part 1
This story originally appeared in Cavallino #117 and is published with permission