Five Ferraris Featured at Hampton Court

Photos by Jonathan Sharp
Story by Pete Vack

Last week Jonathan Sharp attended this year’s Hampton Court Concours and found five of the most delicious Ferraris on hand. “Let’s just focus on those five,” suggested the Editor, and so he did. Then we highlighted what was most interesting about each one of the five cars presented. The result is below.

Ferrari 212 Touring Berlinetta S/N 0108E

What’s interesting about Kevin Caulfield’s Ferrari is that his father Tom, after purchasing the car in 1965 and restoring the car himself, always drove it to shows and vintage events. We saw Tom drive at the 1985 Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix. Tom had driven the 212 Ferrari from his home in Janesville, Wisconsin, a round trip of 1200 miles, and then competed in the event. Years later, Randy Cook featured the car as part of Randy’s book, Bowtie Ferraris as it had a Chevy engine installed before Caulfield rescued it and found the correct Ferrari engine which he purchased from Dick Merritt. A color shot of the Caulfield Ferrari taken by my wife at Pittsburgh hangs over the fireplace today. May it stay in the Caulfield family forever.

Ferrari 166 Touring Barchetta S/N 0064M

What’s neat about this car, of course, is that it was Fiat’s Giovanni Agnelli’s first Ferrari, purchased in July 1950. Not that he was running the firm at the time; a young Agnelli was perhaps wisely allowed to sow his wild oats before settling down to corporate duties. He took his job to heart (the first one) and the Ferrari was the perfect vehicle for the playboy of the Mediterranean. However, he didn’t keep it long, selling it in 1952, and it ended up staying with the Jacques Swaters’ Garage Francorchamps for a long, long time before going to Clive and Alison Beacham around 2012. Coincidentally, before his marriage in 1953, Agnelli had a terrible accident, reportedly driving a Ferrari, which left him with a limp. To our knowledge, no one has yet found the Ferrari that tamed Agnelli. Readers?

Ferrari Touring Barchetta S/N 0006M

It’s a rare treat to own a Ferrari that participated in the real Mille Miglia in Ferrari’s heyday. This 166 is a double Mille Miglia entrant, the first time in 1949 with Giovanni Vaccari/Arnaldo Mori placing 34th overall, and in 1951 with Eraldo Stoppini /Nello Bartolini. It found its way to Don Jetter, a jazz musician living in overseas, and by 1973 0006M was in the hands of VSCCA member Bill Gelles. He is famous for his ownership of a number of delectable Ferraris over the years, and was profiled in VeloceToday by Sean Smith’s A Racing Gentleman. The Gelles hoard included a 1960 400SA Spyder, S/N 1611SA, a 250 California, a 1957 500TRC S/N 0660 MDTR, and a 250LM, S/N 6217GT. He kept 0006M until 1979 and it eventually came to David & Ginny Sydorick before going to Brian Ross, Cortland, OH, in 2006.

Ferrari 166 Barchetta S/N 0008 M

In 1949, a young and wealthy Lord Selsdon bought a Ferrari for $17,000 USD, entered it at Le Mans for 1950, to be co-driven with the dealer, Luigi Chinetti. Selsdon drove for one hour while three time Le Mans winner Chinetti took the car to first place and fame and fortune. The year before, same Chinetti won the 12 hours of Reims in a very similar Ferrari Barchetta, number 20. But it was not the same one as he drove at Le Mans. Selsdon, however, did drive the Reims car (0010M) at GP Automobile Club France, Comminges with again, Luigi Chinetti. To keep things straight, both cars were at Hampton Court. By 1968, the Le Mans winner (S/N 0008M) was owned by Carl Bross, who also owned one of the very first Ferraris, the cycle fendered 002C. In January of 1997, it was purchased by Robert M. Lee, of Sparks, Nevada for $1.4 million and remains with his family.

Ferrari 166 Barchetta S/N 0010 M

The fifth Ferrari is interesting for so many reasons you’ll have to read the full history of it, found here in the pages of VeloceToday as written by Ferrari historian Alan Boe. One paragraph from his article sums up 0010 M and 0008 M: “All told, twenty five 166 MM barchettas and five berlinettas were originally produced by Touring, each one slightly different from all the others, but the two most successful on Europe’s race tracks during that 1949 season were barchettas, chassis s/n 0008 M and s/n 0010 M. The former came home first in both the Mille Miglia (Biondetti/Salani) and in the 24 Hours of Le Mans (Chinetti/Selsdon) while the latter, although battered two laps from the finish, was victorious in the Spa-Francorchamps 24 hours (Chinetti/Lucas) and finished second in the Mille Miglia (Bonetto/Carpani). A third barchetta, s/n 0012 M, captured the 1949 Luxembourg Grand Prix (Villoresi) as well as lesser races in August at Senigallia, Italy and Trieste in September.” Today it is still in the Jon Shirley collection.

To read the articles in full, click below.

Ferrari 166 MM 0010 M

Alan Boe on Ferrari s/n 0010 M Part 2