Palm Beach, 25th of January
The third day of the 23rd edition of the Cavallino Classic in Pam
Beach saw the main event, the Ferrari Concours at The Breakers.
Early in the morning the first cars drove down the driveway of the
five star hotel to be set up at the lawn. Sorted by age the earlier
Ferrari were traditionally set up on the upper lawn starting with the
oldest example right at the entrance of the field with the 1948
Ferrari 166 Spyder Corsa (016I). This little Spyder was brought to
the USA early in its life by Luigi Chinetti and was raced by Briggs
Cunningham and Sam Collier with the later having his fatal
accident in exactly this car. It remained with Cunningham until it
joined the Collier Collection almost 30 years ago, today it made
its post restoration debut as it was brought back to the original
configuration by Paul Russell. Just opposite was the only GP car
in the display, the 500 F2.
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Entering the main field the early Ferrari were lined up to the right
with four 2.5 Litre models from the year 1951, three Export
models and an Inter representing three different coachbuilders.
The Inter was bodied by Ghia, the Exports were a Touring
Barchetta and a duo of Vignale, whereas one was an elegant
cabriolet that was more intended for street usage (although it has
an even chassis number), the other was a pure race car with no
less than three Mille Miglia and a Le Mans entry. After a big
crash in changed hands several times over the year before being
restored back to the original sportive Vignale Berlinetta. This car
did not just win the competition award for the finest competition
car but also the trophy for the most intensive research for the
restoration.
On the left side of the field the 250 series was displayed ranging
from the early Europa GT to the later GT SWB models. No less
than seven cabriolet were displayed, two California Spyder both in
long and short variation and five Series II Cabriolets. With the
astronomic prices of the California it seems that more and more
Series II Cabriolets are restored to perfection and displayed at
various events. In Palm Beach a lot of different features on these
cars could be seen including a covered headlight version, a rare
version with side vents and one hardtop with an integrated
sunroof.
The 250 class was rounded of by an unusual GT Lusso with a
special nose in style of the LMB racing models and the 250 LM
that won the Jet Center Reception award two days ago. It also
succeeded at the Breakers with a class win, the Ferrari Classiche
Cup for the best certified Ferrari and the award for the finest
12-cylinder engined car on the field.
The Lampredi engined era was represented by a 400
Superamerica, its predecessor 410 Superamerica and two 500
Superfast. The 400 Superamerica was brought over by Jack
Thomas who displayed the car the third time at Cavallino after it
last appeared ten years ago, now in the original dark silver livery,
the Superamerica was finally awarded with the Best of Show in
the GT Category.
In the middle of the upper lawn was a trio of competition cars, two
Testarossa, the two litre four cylinder version 500 TRC and the 3
litre 12-cylinder 250 TR. In addition the 335 S was presented by
its new owner for the first time in Palm Beach and as it was also
driven on the track yesterday he was awarded with the “Spirit of
Track and Concours Award”.
In the middle lawn this year’s feature was the 275 GTB at its 50th
anniversary, about 2 dozen of the successor of the 250 series
were displayed including the spectacular 275 GTB Competizione
of Preston Henn that certainly won its class.
Unfortunately the weather was not as good as in the last two
days as it was overcast most of the day but this did not keep
people away as the field seemed very crowded most of the day.
Aside the knowledge Ferrari fans many of the other hotel guests
seemed to have a look on the cars to get an inside view on
collecting cars as many questions were asked to the owners and
volunteers on the different models, and even without knowing the
importance of the models in question most of the top models (like
the 250 LM, the 335 S and the 250 TR) were surrounded
naturally.
Tomorrow will see the final curtain of this year’s Cavallino Classic
with the multimarque concours at the Classic Sport Sunday in the
Mar-a-Lago club. Several of the Ferraris of today’s concours could
be admired once more with an additional selection of Bentley,
Aston Martin and others.
Report & images ... Peter Singhof
www.ClassicCarPhotography.de
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