by Mike –
After reading the My Car Quest articles on the Ferrari NART Spiders Ron Spangler of “Prancing Horse Farm” in Maryland contacted me and wanted to let me know about a very special Ferrari NART Spider that he has for sale.
1961 Ferrari 250 GT Fantuzzi NART Spider
Luigi Chinetti, Jr., son of the U.S. Ferrari importer, sketched the design in the early 1960s and Chinetti Sr. sent the sketch and a damaged 1961 250 GTE he had just bought back from a customer to Italy. Carrozzeria Fantuzzi then turned the sketch into reality.
Fantuzzi was well known for his work with Maserati but he also built many Ferrari race cars.
Watch the third video at this link where Luigi Chinetti, Jr. describes how it happened.
“Prancing Horse Farm” says this about this NART Spider,
* Mileage: 29,000
* Engine: 3.0 Liter V12 with 6 Weber Carbs
* Transmission: 5 Speed Manual
* Body Style: Targa, 2 Door
This Ferrari represents the only period re-body of a GTE, and was done under the strict guidance of Chinetti’s North American Racing Team.
The car was completed in time to sit on display at the 1965 San Francisco Sports Car show, and it later appeared at the New York and Miami Auto Shows.
Read more about this 1961 Ferrari NART Spider here.
This is a one-off special Ferrari 250 GT with a unique history – re-bodied in the early 1960s.
The big question is how much is this one worth? It is not a 275 GTB/4 NART Spider yet it is a beautiful NART Spider built before the famous 275 GTB/4 versions. We all remember the $27.5 million 275 GTB/4 NART Spider sold in Monterey this past August. I suspect the owner of this special NART Spider is thinking of that too.
Chinetti is happy they were able to save a car and to create something that a customer wanted and something that is still so special these many years later.
I’d say, 25-50% more than a 250 GTE in similar condition, in the $400-500k ballpark. To the right person, of course. Ferrari re-works have a tendency to not perform the best in the world on the sales block, but that one sure is prettier than most others. Remember that Michelotti-rebodied `71 365GTB/4 NART spyder from this past Gooding PB auction? That’s where it settled at, about 40% more than a 365GTB/4 Daytona.