by Mike –
I was flipping through a Ferrari book* a few years ago when I came across this drawing below.
1964 Ferrari 275 GTB Carrozzeria Pininfarina
This is such a beautiful drawing that I was very disappointed when the caption read “1964 Type 275 GTB. Carrozzeria Pininfarina. A drawing for a berlinetta done by the designer Brovarone. Some of the details are not found on the actual cars themselves; the centrally punted vanishing headlights, for example, and the lights recessed into the mudguards, details that make the car remarkably compact but failed to meet safety standards.”
I for one would be willing to relax safety standards to have a car such as this one made.
I forgot about this drawing then one day recently I was on the Internet looking at car pictures, probably on Pinterest, when I found this photo below of the same car!
The small front bumpers in the drawing are not on the car and the Ferrari prancing horse on the car grille is not on the drawing. Maybe there are other differences but clearly this is the same car as the one in the drawing.
I wonder how many were made or if this is the only one?
Below is the production Ferrari 275 GTB. This is one of the most beautiful Pininfarina designs ever.
Ferrari 275 GTB
We can’t argue with this design going into production but why couldn’t Ferrari have made both?
*”Ferrari, Design of a Legend, The official history and catalog” by Gianni Rogliatti, Sergio Pininfarina and Valerio Moretti published by Abbeville Press
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There was only one, but there was a reason That is the Ingrid Bergman Ferrari. Carrozzeria Scaglietti was commissioned by director Roberto Rossellini to build a one-off version on a 375 race car that he crashed.
Thanks for the education. Scaglietti built a Pininfarina design?
Where is this car now?
It was at Pebble recently, I think it lives in France. It was built ten years before the 275, so I don’t know how dated it looks. I would say it was very modern for it’s time. Here are some interesting pictures
http://ciadecarros.wordpress.com/2012/02/05/memoraveis-ferraris-iv/
Thanks for these additional photos. We have to admit that based on these new photos and earlier design dates, we are much more understanding and attracted to the design.
Perhaps we are biased as owners of a ’67 275 GTB/4, but even before we owned the car, we believed that the production 275 is one of the very best Ferrari designs of all time. And we would venture a guess that the majority of vintage Italian car lovers and actual car designers both would pick the production design 275 well above the Rossellini/Bergman design. The R/B design seems outdated by the mid 60s…and too contrived with its long extended fenders, the side cove, and the fat flat nose. It seems to be different for difference’s sake…not always a good plan. Sorry, but to us the R/B design looks quite clunky when compared to the clean seemingly perfect sculptural beauty of the production 275. But to each his own…
I cannot disagree but as I said why not build both?
Developing, building and marketing too many production models is how many car companies get into trouble. The idea is to pick winners and priorities based on your specialized market, especially when you are only building a few hundred per year.
You sound like a CEO.
A Ferrari made for Ingrid Bergman and commissioned by Roberto Rossellini.
Isn’t this worth producing more than one?
This is art.
I think thats the point when you commission a car, there is only one. Rossellini paid for the rights to have the only one.
Agreed…they wanted a unique car…specially built for them. And Ferrari will still do a one-off custom even today…for a price.
The quote from the book about this drawing makes it sound like this was a Pininfarina design done for Ferrari that did not make it to production.
Maybe Rossellini saw this design and choose it rather than this design was done for him.
Quite possible…and there is someone who probably knows the answer…most likely at the Classique Department at Ferrari in Maranello. One could email them with photos and see what their response would be.
The front of this one-off reminds me the nose of the first Lamborghini ever produced, the 350 GTV styled by Franco Scaglione. Maybe it’s due to the pop-up headlamps only, but in my opinion there are some resemblances between these two very special cars.