Ferrari Mondial S/N 0446MD

By Wallace Wyss with news, and Pete Vack with history

Writes Wallace: A great barnfind goes on the block at Monterey

Yes, it’s true, what is today one of the most valuable Ferraris on earth, one which by the way will cross the block at Monterey this August, was found languishing at a Rambler dealership (read that and weep, you car hunters who never figured a valuable sports car would be found at such a dud brand dealer).

The guy who bought it for $2,225 was a Navy professional, Robert Phillips who found his 1955 Ferrari 500 Mondial Scaglietti Series II at a Rambler dealership in Richmond, VA, in 1960 with damage to its body, engine and transmission. The dealer referred Phillips to the actual owner, Robert Ready Davis, and a deal was done. When Phillips scraped off the dirt (oh, excuse me, patina) he discovered it is chassis 0556 (0446)/MD, Only 9 Series II Mondials were built with coachwork by Scaglietti.

When he bought his then battered five year old used car, he wasn’t married, but he subsequently married. Now right here, before going on, I have to congratulate his wife for not forcing him to sell what a lot of wives would view as “that useless old race car.” Phillips stayed in the Navy a long time, enough to work his way up to the rank of Rear Admiral.

He is lucky he didn’t become a full time Ferrari mechanic, admitting to one reporter that he “lost all rational sense when he first wiped the grease from the motor head and saw the letters that spelled out FERRARI.”

According to the auction company the car was originally sold to privateer Francois Picard who had it painted French racing blue. The factory bought the car back and subsequently raced it to a first place in class at the 1955 Grand Prix of Venezuela – the only time ever that a works Ferrari raced in a color other than red.

The Ferrari was raced 35 times in period on three continents. The restored car won Best in Class and Best Ferrari at the 2008 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.

When you buy this car, you buy a car that was piloted by some of the greats: Gino Munaron, Harry Schell, Eugenio Castellotti, and the immortal Porfirio Rubirosa.

It is expected to fetch between $5,500,000 to $7,500,000 at Gooding’s Monterey auction. Admittedly it doesn’t have a V12 (a rare Ferrari four cylinder instead) but this is a works race car with a racing history….

Thanks for the story, Wallace! Hey, (said the Editor), didn’t we do a story on this back in 2006? We did? Well why don’t we do an instant replay.
It was called….

In 1953, Ferrari decided to create a line of 2.0, 2.5, and 3.0 liter four cylinder race cars to be sold to privateers. These were the 500 Mondial, the 735S, and the 750S, followed in later years by the 860, 500TR, 500 TRC and 625 LM. The line of Mondials and Monzas were hugely successful both in terms of sales for Ferrari and wins for privateers. The Series II Mondials and Monzas looked very much alike and in fact were very similar. The Mondial were 2 liter cars while the Monzas were 3 liters.

The last of the red hot playboys

Both Fon Portago and his friend Porfirio Rubirosa, a “diplomat from the Dominican Republic” were Ferrari customers. Portago had to ask his mother for the money to buy new Ferraris, while “Rubi” was able to take large chunks of Eisenhower dollars from his rich wives and girlfriends.

In 1954, Portago purchased one of two Ferrari Monzas with which he would dominate the Nassau Speedweeks. The first was a 735S Sport Scaglietti, 0428MD. With 2.9 liters it was a cross between a 500 Monza 500 and a 750 Monza. He painted it black and took it to the Carrera Panamericana in 1954, but retired. However, by the end of the year, it was upgraded to full 750s specs and Portago drove it to one victory and two second overalls in the Nassau races. After an outing and DNF at Sebring in 1955, he sold it to purchase another Monza 750S, 0496M.

Teaming with Hawthorne at Goodwood, the pair retired, and similar results occurred at Aintree. Wrapping up the 1955 season, he entered the Nassau races, and this time won two overall victories and one second overall with 0496M.

The Rubirosa Mondial

In the meantime, Rubirosa was achieving excellent results in a look-alike car, a Mondial 500, 0446MD. Portago and Rubirosa were often seen together in the pits at both Sebring in 1956 and the earlier Nassau events. “Rubi” was usually accompanied by Zsa Zsa Gabor, while Portago was trying to avoid Dorian Leigh, Suzy Parker’s equally beautiful sister.

Rubi was not Portago’s equal on the track, but he did win the Governor’s Cup at Nassau in 1955 in the Mondial. At Sebring four months later, Rubi and Jim Pauley took 0446MD to a first in class and 10th overall. Sometime after the Sebring event, Rubi sold the car to Charles Hassan of Cincinnati.

Since both cars and drivers were together at several events, it is possible that Portago had a go in Rubi’s car. Pure speculation, of course.

When Hassan bought 0446MD, it was good value for the money, and still competitive in the E Modified SCCA class. In April of 1959, Robert Ready Davis bought 0446, still in dark blue livery, but with body damage commensurate with its many battles. Davis apparently left it for at a Rambler dealer in Richmond Virginia, where it was found by a young Naval Officer.

Admiral Phillips

The Naval Officer would eventually become not only an Admiral but arguably the world’s leading authority on Series II 500 Mondials. For the 25-year-old Robert Phillips, a Ferrari was an absolute gotta-have, and Robert Ready Davis was ready to sell. Phillips bought 0446, “ a forlorn blue wreck with the transaxle in a wooden box” in May of 1960. Robert Phillips, as it turned out, proved to be a mechanical clairvoyant. Having no mechanical experience save replacing the head gasket on his MGA, Phillips repaired the five speed dog clutch gearbox and differential unit. He also rebuilt the engine and did bodywork.

Nine months later he entered a driver’s school at Cotati, California and from 1961 to May 1967, Phillips competed in nine events across the U.S, entering the car when his Naval career would permit. He also drove it from coast to coast, an amazing feat then or now. From 1968 to 1988 when he retired, the US Navy kept Phillips globe trotting, unable to either work on or race 0446MD.

By the mid-80s, he was very aware of the rising value of the car. Yet he, nor his wife, could bear to part with it as it had become so much a part of their life. Conversely, while he considered having it restored, the investment was both risky and required a huge bank account. “When in doubt, do nothing” applied here. Phillips, now settled in Arlington Virginia, made a special garage unit for the Mondial, provided every measure for long-term storage, and went on about life.

And so, having found a patient and understanding owner, and by escaping the turmoil of the 80s, 0446MD was never restored.

Today, however, the car is in the shop, where, according to Robert’s son Bryan, the livery will be restored to the one it wore for its most significant race; first in class at the 1955 Grand Prix of Venezuela in Caracas, October 1955. This was the only time 0446(0556) wore the team SF shield; it started the race driven by Harry Shell, and then taken over by Eugenio Castellotti to first in class.

On the Beach

But there is more and it should be written now, while we have the opportunity to do so. Robert Phillips, in addition to being as bright a man as we’d ever met, looks more than a bit like the late actor Fred Astaire.

Astaire starred in a movie classic called “On The Beach”, a 1959 novel by Nevil Shute which portrayed the end of the world as seen from the perspective of the Australians, who were to be the last to suffer the events of massive atomic bomb radiation poisoning which was enveloping the earth. Astaire played a race car driver, whose four wheel passion was, you guessed it, a Ferrari Monza, nearly identical to the Series II Mondial, parked in his garage. The Ferrari played a decisive part in the movie.

Upon meeting Phillips and walking into his garage, with his very original Mondial beside him, scenes from the movie immediately came to mind. “On The Beach” I blurted. “Right on,” said Phillips. And the last bit of gossip. “On The Beach” also starred Ava Gardner, who was often romantically linked with, well, Rubirosa.

Serial number postscript

“There are two Ferraris which have had the serial number 0446MD”, said Robert Phillips. “They were both purchased by the same person, which may tell us something about French and Italian tax laws of the era. The first 0446 was a 735 Sport built in July 1954. It was later re-numbered 0556MD.” The car sitting quietly before us, however, was built in May of 1955, a Series II Mondial. To avoid confusion and clarify the issue, Phillips refers to his 0446MD as “0556 (0446) MD”, indicating that this 0446MD was built on May 5, 1955. The fact that 0556 is also the second serial number assigned to the first 0446MD bothers the retired Admiral not one whit. Therein lies an ironic sense of humor, something not to be lost whilst tracking Ferrari serial numbers.