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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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Almost mythical pony

25 July, 2024

The Shelby came to our shores in 2003. It went from the original New Zealand owner to an owner in Auckland. Malcolm just happened to be in the right place with the right amount of money in 2018 and a deal was done. Since then, plenty of people have tried to buy it off him. The odometer reads 92,300 miles. From the condition of the car that seems to be correct and only the first time around.
Malcolm’s car is an automatic. It has the 1966 dashboard, the back seat, the rear quarter windows and the scoops funnelling air to the rear brakes.
He even has the original bill of sale from October 1965 in California.

Becoming fond of Fords part two – happy times with Escorts

17 July, 2024

In part one of this Ford-flavoured trip down memory lane I recalled a sad and instructive episode when I learned my shortcomings as a car tuner, something that tainted my appreciation of Mk2 Ford Escort vans in particular. Prior to that I had a couple of other Ford entanglements of slightly more redeeming merit. There were two Mk1 Escorts I had got my hands on: a 1972 1300 XL belonging to my father and a later, end-of-line, English-assembled 1974 1100, which my partner and I bought from Panmure Motors Ford in Auckland in 1980. Both those cars were the high water mark of my relationship with the Ford Motor Co. I liked the Mk1 Escorts. They were nice, nippy, small cars, particularly the 1300, which handled really well, and had a very precise gearbox for the time.
Images of Jim Richards in the Carney Racing Williment-built Twin Cam Escort and Paul Fahey in the Alan Mann–built Escort FVA often loomed in my imagination when I was driving these Mk1 Escorts — not that I was under any illusion of comparable driving skills, but they had to be having just as much fun as I was steering the basic versions of these projectiles.