by Wallace Wyss –
There are car snobs. I think one I particularly remember was Greg Garrison, a Hollywood TV producer who collected rare one-off cars. I heard he’d be showing his collection and, if you asked just one question that revealed your ignorance, the tour would be ended.
Anyway one time when I met him at a car show in Beverly Hills he was bragging that his Ferrari 412 cabriolet was “especially built for him.” I think I committed the sin of asking the wrong question and he clammed up.
It is an interesting car because it had the word prototype in the car somewhere: PROTO4120E0065201
Gooding says the Vin Number was: ZFFYX31X0G0065201
What made it interesting is that it is proof positive that Ferrari thought of making convertible 400 models (by that time the 412).
Garrison told me that Sergio Scaglietti made the design to his taste. But I found pictures of two other prototype convertibles, both not finished out as well, and I think Ferrari was thinking along these lines, built the three cars and Scaglietti thought “Here’s a guy I can sell one to” and it was finished out to Garrison’s tastes, including a beautiful paint job and Borrani wire wheels.
One reason Ferrari developed the cars was, on at least one of them, was to evaluate the use of advanced composite materials in the load-bearing structure of road cars.
The Garrison car was created in 1984 though its VIN identifies it as a 1986 model.
Where is the composite material? According to Gooding & Co., who auctioned it, “the passenger compartment is a tub consisting of fiberglass, carbon fiber and Kevlar, taking advantage of each material’s performance characteristics and formations such as honeycombs and sandwiches. The engine, clutch, and gearbox units are positioned in the front subframe. The four-wheel independent suspension with coil springs and tubular shock absorbers are from a Mondial.”
The car tipped the scales at just over 1400 kg and is nearly 400 kg lighter than the 412 from which the drivetrain is borrowed. The engine sounds fairly stock—according to Gooding, it was a V12 engine with Bosch Mechanical fuel injection system and dual overhead valves, displacing 4943cc and rated at 340 bhp. The gearbox is a five-speed manual.
The bodywork, different than the regular 400 and 412 was fiberglass and deviated quite a bit from the Pininfarina production 412.
The central load-bearing tub is comprised of three distinct structural elements, the central tunnel containing the transmission and driveshaft, and the two sill boxes. The result was an increase in torsion by ten times, and is five times stiffer in bending than a conventional tube frame.
The factory used it as a long-term endurance tester and some of the results influenced the F40 which featured a composite tub structure and one other lower cost Ferrari mid-engined road car.
In 2007 it was brought to the Gooding & Company auction held in Pebble Beach, CA where it was estimated to sell for between $50,000 and $60,000 and it was offered without reserve. It took twice that to buy it– $110,000–but I think it was well bought because of its rarity, one of three open 400-412 type cars but built by a coachbuilder working within Ferrari.
Not everyone you understand, can go over to Ferrari and buy prototypes. Greg Garrison had met Enzo Ferrari as a result of working on a charity that Enzo was involved in, and, over the years, had plenty of interaction with the firm on restoring various Ferraris.
I wish I could tell more about how he bought it, but Garrison passed on and took his secrets with him….
Let us know what you think in the Comments.
THE AUTHOR: A fine artist, Wallace Wyss will be featuring fine art on Ferraris at Concorso Italiano. A list of work can be obtained by writing Photojournalistpro2@gmail.com.
Wally,
I will tell you my Greg Garrison story the next time we meet.
All the best,
Paul