In Issue 2, we look at this 1954 Ferrari 375 MM Spider Pininfarina. A car that led a tumultuous life.
Not every Ferrari has led a cherished life in a heated garage. Frankly, it’s nothing short of a miracle this car was even brought back to the shape in which it left the factory at all. The chassis had been cut up at some part, and parts of the car were with different owners. But thanks to the relentless efforts of Charles Betz and Fred Peters from Orange County, California, and with help from British specialist David Cottingham, it really happened. Starting in the late eighties, Steve Beckman in California was able to restore the car back to the state it left the factory in Italy in 1954.
Parravano
At that point, the Ferrari 375 MM Spider Pininfarina entered Tony Parravano’s ‘Scuderia Parravano’ in the US. It raced with Jack McAfee behind the wheel in the 1955 Sebring 12 Hours. After an accident, the chassis was shortened in the USA. The young Dan Gurney would drive the shortened version with a Mistral fibreglass bodykit on a couple of occasions in 1958. By that time, Parravano had troubles with the IRS and saw a big part of his car collection auctioned off by the government.
Maserati engine
LA contractor Frank Arciero bought both the 375 MM Spider and a V8 Maserati engine, which he put in the car in 1959. It would go on to race like this up until 1965. It wasn’t until Betz and Peters bought it, that the hunt started to return chassis 0362 AM to its original shape.
We got up close to the car in the south of Germany recently. You can all about that and how its current owner likes to use it in Issue 2 of Tazio Magazine, out on December 20th.
