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Pull out your cheque book: Fangio’s Ferrari could be yours

26 October, 2015

At Sotheby’s upcoming New York Driven by Disruption auction (December 10), a car that has been hailed as something of a Holy Grail for car collectors will be offered for sale — the 1956 Ferrari 290 MM (chassis #0626) once raced by none other than five-time F1 world champion Juan Manuel Fangio. Sotheby’s say that this Ferrari is undoubtedly one of the greatest, most original, and most valuable cars ever offered at public auction.

Specially built by the Ferrari factory for Fangio to drive in the 1956 Mille Miglia, Fangio raced in that 1000-mile event single-handedly, finishing an impressive fourth overall. Painted in a unique factory Argentinian colour scheme, the car featured a totally new 3.5-litre V12 engine, and was one of only four 290 MMs to be built.

Furthermore, it was one of the first Ferraris raced in Europe by Phil Hill, and also heralded the beginning of Wolfgang von Trips’ Ferrari-driving career. It was also piloted to victory in the 1957 Buenos Aires 1000km race by Eugenio Castellotti, Luigi Musso, and Masten Gregory. During its illustrious career, ‘0626’ was also campaigned by other legendary names including Alfonso de Portago, Peter Collins, Olivier Gendebien, and Joakim Bonnier.

The car arrived in the US in 1957, and continued to be raced up until 1964. Following the end of its racing career, 0626 remained in the US before being acquired by the Mas du Clos collection, where it remained for almost 34 years. Ferrari Classiche–certified, this car remains the best of all the four examples built, retaining its original chassis, matching-numbers engine, gearbox, and body. 

Driven by some of the greatest drivers of the 1950s, and built for possibly the greatest driver in history, this car’s originality, coupled with its extraordinary provenance and history, means that this Ferrari is one of the most desirable and valuable cars to ever come to the open market.

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Design accord

28 March, 2025

You can’t get much more of an art deco car than a Cord — so much so that new owners, Paul McCarthy and his wife, Sarah Selwood, went ahead and took their Beverly 812 to Napier’s Art Deco Festival this year, even though the festival itself had been cancelled.
“We took delivery of the vehicle 12 days before heading off to Napier. We still drove it all around at the festival,” says Paul.
The utterly distinctive chrome grille wrapping around the Cord’s famous coffin-shaped nose, and the pure, clean lines of the front wing wheel arches, thanks to its retractable headlamps, are the essence of deco. This model, the Beverly, has the finishing touch of the bustle boot that is missing from the Westchester saloon.

Motorman: When New Zealand built the Model T Ford

21 March, 2025

History has a way of surrounding us, hidden in plain sight. I was one of a group who had been working for years in an editorial office in Augustus Terrace in the Auckland city fringe suburb of Parnell who had no idea that motoring history had been made right around the corner. Our premises actually backed onto a century-old brick building in adjacent Fox Street that had seen the wonder of the age, brand-new Model T Fords, rolling out the front door seven decades earlier.
Today, the building is an award-winning two-level office building, comprehensively refurbished in 2012. Happily, 6 Fox Street honours its one time claim to motoring fame. Next door are eight upmarket loft apartments, also on the site where the Fords were completed. Elsewhere, at 89 Courtenay Place, Wellington, and Sophia Street, Timaru, semi-knocked-down Model Ts were also being put together, completing a motor vehicle that would later become known as the Car of the Century.