Needham, Massachusetts  USA  July 16, 2018

Construction magnate and boulevardier Tony Parravano was instrumental in launching the West Coast sports car racing craze of the 1950s.  Along with John Edgar and John von Neumann, Scuderia Parravano hired the very best drivers of the day to race the very best cars of the day.  Tony was a top customer of Enzo Ferrari and had countless cars direct from the Factory.  It all ended in a dispute with the IRS, with Tony smuggling numerous cars into Mexico, with the rest confiscated and sold at auction by the U.S. Marshalls.  Presumably in Mexico, Tony was never seen again but his folk hero spirit lives on in these two glorious race cars.

Now, two of Enzo Ferrari’s quintessential open sports racers are being offered by Copley Motorcars out of their suburban Boston showroom:

1954 375 Plus Sutton Spyder s/n 0478AM, originally raced in Scaglietti trim by legendary drivers, Jack McAfee, Ken Miles and Carroll Shelby, only to be unceremoniously crashed by Shelby at Palm Springs.  As told by Carroll Shelby to Will Edgar, “I drove that big 4.9 of Tony’s at Seattle and won, and drove it again at Palm Springs and crashed.  That Ferrari turned into being one of the best.  It was the lightest, fastest, Ferrari I ever knew.” Re-bodied in 1956 by Hollywood based Jack Sutton, who earned the nickname, “America’s Scaglietti,” with 0478 sold to the privateer racing team of Frank Arciero.  Fledgling driver, Dan Gurney, would go on to multiple victories in 0478.  Considered one of the original eight 375 Plus with its massive 4.9 litre V12 engine, 0478 AM a 1950s icon.

1955 750 Monza Scaglietti spyder s/n 0538M, one of the 37 3.0 litre Monza’s built, and quite possibly the most beautiful 4 cylinder open sports racer to ever come out of Ferrari.  The voluptuous one-off Scaglietti coachwork fitted in late 1955 following an incident at the Targa Florio by the race team of Carroll Shelby and Gino Munaron, with Munaron disappointingly leaving the track after Shelby had them running third.  0538 would come back to the States wearing its stunning new coachwork and be raced with Bob Drake in the seat at Palm Springs in April of 1957.  This the very last race for Scuderia Parravano.

Construction magnate and boulevardier Tony Parravano was instrumental in launching the West Coast sports car racing craze of the 1950s.  Along with John Edgar and John von Neumann, Scuderia Parravano hired the very best drivers of the day to race the very best cars of the day.  Tony was a top customer of Enzo Ferrari and had countless cars direct from the Factory.  It all ended in a dispute with the IRS, with Tony smuggling numerous cars into Mexico, with the rest confiscated and sold at auction by the U.S. Marshalls.  Presumably in Mexico, Tony was never seen again but his folk hero spirit lives on in these two glorious race cars.

The 375 Plus and 750 Monza are on offer at Stu Carpenter’s Copley Motorcars showroom just outside of Boston, Massachusetts.  Stu will be presenting both on the Monterey Peninsula in late August, commencing with the Carmel-By-The-Sea Concours On The Avenue, Tuesday August 21 and then by appointment the remainder of car week.

Period photos courtesy of Edgar Motorsports Archive
Special thanks to the team at Thompson Speedway
Photography by Chip Riegel