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Its debut was at the final practice session for the Grand Prix dell’Autodromo at Monza, an appearance that
was slightly delayed due to the fac that its allotted driver, the legendary Mike Hawthorn, had been held up at
the Rouen Grand Prix campaigning a works 625 F1 single-seater. Hawthorn, although tired from his outing at
Rouen, performed admirably in the car and finished fourth in both the first and second heat.
Following the race, the Vignale spider underwent some remodelling, believed to be the work of none other
than Scaglietti. The radiator grille was significantly reduced, a modification that the car’s unmistakable front
end retains to this day. In its new guise, the car was entered in the Coppa d’Oro delle Dolomiti, entrusted this
time to Umberto Maglioli, a participant in 10 Formula One World Championship Grand Prix and winner of the
gruelling Carrera Panamericana in 1954.
Not everyone was happy with Enzo’s choice of Maglioli, as his team-mate Paolo Marzotto recalled: ‘I tried the
4-cylinder and had no doubt that it could be the car to win…it was light, agile and with enormous torque, it
was the ideal car. I said to Ferrari that I intended to compete with it, but there was no way of convincing him.
He insisted I raced the twelve. I said, ‘As you like…I’ll take the lead, I’ll stop 10 metres from the finish line and
I’ll let Taruffi pass me.’
Enzo called Marzotto’s bluff and stood his ground, knowing that no driver could ever really give up a victory out
of sheer stubbornness. Marzotto took the victory in the 250MM Vignale spider, Piero Taruffi came in second
in his Lancia D20 and Maglioli was third.
Following its Italian racing career, the car passed through 5 South American owners in Brazil and Argentina,
where it competed in famously tricky races such as the 1000kms de Buenos Aires (five times) and the 500
Miles of Argentina. In the mid 1960s, the car exchanged in part for a Ferrari 250GT and sent to Italy where it
remained, unloved, until 1974 when it was discovered by Franco Lombardi in a scrapyard in Naples.
The car was sent to Modena by its new owner and underwent a complete restoration in preparation for the
Mille Miglia, a race that the car successfully entered four times in 1984, 1986, 1989 and 1990. In 2006, it was
raced by its current owner at the legendary Monaco Historic Grand Prix having been once again restored, this
time by Carrozzeria Nova Rinascente near Padova.
This is a racing car par excellence: ex-works, driven by one of the most celebrated British racing drivers of all
time, and fastidiously restored. It is eligible for the most glamorous and exciting motoring events across the
globe and, as Maglioli himself claimed, ‘it is suitable for even the most tortuous routes.’
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