Ferrari at the
AvD Oldtimer Grand Prix
Nürburgring, August 7-9, 1998
-
- The
Races
- The
star of the weekend
- Ferrari
Club Deutschland Meeting
Germany's most important event in
historic motor racing, the Oldtimer Grand Prix
hosted by the Automobilclub von Deutschland
(AvD), took place at the Nürburgring once again
on the weekend of August 7 to 9. After some years
in which the turnout of Ferrari at this event had
been a little meager, the 1998 edition saw a more
remarkable number of red cars in the paddock and
on the track.
 
The
German collector Dieter Streve-Mülhens had
entered his 750 Monza s/n 0470M, while his son
drove David Piper's 250 LM s/n 8165. The example
owned by the well-known Brit is very likely to be
the only one of its kind on this planet that is
to rent.
French
financial consultant Bernard Duc turned up with
several cars from his collection, including the
250 GT LWB Berlinetta Scaglietti "Tour de
France" s/n 1143GT and the 250 GT SWB
Berlinetta s/n 3401GT.
Interestingly,
the latter's front grille had been changed since
its last appearance during the Coys Historic
Festival at Silverstone just some weeks ago.
Likewise as in England, #3401GT was again driven
by Franco Meiners. Also part of Duc's stable: a
250 GTE-based 250 GTO '62 Replica, built by David
Piper.
Last
but not least, Richard Chester from the UK
participated in the race for pre-1974 Le Mans
GT-cars in his 365 GTB/4 Daytona Competition
Conversion, s/n 14321.
For many Ferraristi, inclusive yours
truly, the undoubted star of the paddock was not
a Ferrari, but an old Ferrari racecar transporte.
German
collector Fritz Grashei presented his Fiat 642
RN2 truck from the late 1950's which provided a
most adequate and very stylish way of
transportation to Grashei's 860 Monza, s/n 0602M.
This transporter had been owned by American
Richard Freshman for some years prior to being
sold to Clive Beecham in the UK. Grashei acquired
this interesting piece of Ferrari history in
1997.
The meeting of the FCD has become a
real Oldtimer Grand Prix institution since the
1980's. After the events in 1996 and 1997 had
attracted less cars than in previous years, there
were again between 300 and 400 Ferrari to be seen
in the Kart Motodrom which is the traditional
site of the gathering. As always, there were some
remarkable rarities and other examples of
particular interest among them.
 
Jürgen
Rohwer drove his 250 GT Berlinetta Drogo down
from Hamburg; the 250 GTE-based (engine# 2423GT)
car sports - a replica body by Terry Hoyle - of
the beautiful Drogo-built body that had been
installed on Ulf Norinder's 250 GTO '62 s/n
3445GT in the 1960's. Since 1997, Rohwer had the
car resprayed in a non-metallic blue.
Siegfried
Propfen from Hameln showed up in his immaculate
250 GT Lusso Prototype s/n 3849GT. This is the
very first Lusso ever built. Unfortunately, there
has been some confusion surrounding this car
since Kurt Miska's book "The Berlinetta
Lusso" erroneously identified Battista
Pininfarina's one-off 250 GT Lusso s/n 4335GT as
s/n 3849GT. Since Propfen bought his s/n 3849GT
as a restoration project in pieces, he had it
restored to the looks of Pininfarina's s/n 4335GT
that featured many one-off details. Anyway, the
car is gorgeous.
A
very unusual Ferrari proved as crowd-stopper: a
330 GTC which had been converted to a spyder à
la Lotus Super Seven by Willy Felber of
Morges/Switzerland in the late 1970's or early
1980's. Felber was an authorized Ferrari dealer
who created some strange one-offs together with
the Italian designer Edgardo Michelotti. At least
three of these 330 GTC-based "Felber
Ferraris" were manufactured. The design was
intended to resemble the 166 Spider Corsa, but is
actually pretty weird and somehow ugly. However,
just another matter of taste. The example present
at the Nürburgring used the chassis of s/n 9107
and the engine 9879.
 
Another
conversion was the "250 GT California Spider
SWB" of dealer Herbert Engel. This replica
was created using chassis and engine of a 365 GT
2+2, s/n 12313.
Not
less than seven 365 GTB/4 Daytona showed up at
the "Ring" as well, including two
spyder conversion, both - incidentially - painted
yellow. One of them, s/n 15449, was owned in the
1970's by the famous stuntman Evil Knivel in the
USA. The story goes that one of his girl friends
crashed the car in L.A.; the following extensive
repairs were used to convert this Daytona into a
spyder.
The
range of classic Ferrari was completed by a
remarkable number of Dino 246 GT and GTS.
Andreas Birner
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