| Ferrari wins Mille
Miglia
Brescia,
May 6-9, 1999
-
The
possibly most famous event for historical cars in
the world – the Mille Miglia Storica –
did again attract a high number of Ferrari this
year, 33 to be more precise.
The
weather during this year’s "Mille"
was great most of the time, although it did rain
heavily when the cars arrived back in Brescia on
Saturday evening. But the Italian rain in May is
just typical and has become an essential part of
the Mille Miglia already for the regular
participants.
Going
through the list of the participating Ferrari,
one can easily notice that there were not too
many "novelties" for the Ferrarista who
regularly attends European Ferrari and/or
historic racing events.
A
team from Denmark entered a so-called
"Jaguar Ferrari Biondetti Sport"; this
weird Jaguar-powered car is rumored to have a
Ferrari chassis. I have not been able to confirm
this nor to find out anything else on what the
car actually has got to do with Ferrari – if
it has at all. Maybe one of our readers may help?
Bill
Noon of the Symbolic Motor Car Co. of La Jolla,
CA/USA showed up in the early 166 Inter Coupé
Touring s/n 0079S. Unfortunately, the car
suffered from technical problems and was
eventually among the many "DNFs".
A Mr.
Meyer from the Netherlands took part in his 250
MM Berlinetta Pinin Farina s/n 0258MM. The car
had undergone a ground-up restoration over a
period of several years and was seen in public
for the very first time since then.
From
Germany a dark blue 250 Europa GT Coupé Pinin
Farina had come to Italy, owned by Michael
Stollfuss of Bonn. I was personally surprised to
see this car s/n 0389GT since I had never heard
about it being in Germany. Unfortunately, the
right front fender got a dent in a minor accident
prior to the start, but I think it is a miracle
anyway that there are only a very few cars which
become damaged in the Mille Miglia each year.
Mr.
Sanchez-Zinny from Argentina drove his newly
acquired 225 Sport Spider Vignale s/n 0218ET and
took it to an incredible 5th OA
position.
A
well-known Mille Miglia-participant is the red
250 MM Spider Vignale s/n 0276M; the spyder with
a very clouded history was on loan this year,
being driven by Swiss collector Oscar Meier, who
had just sold his 750 Monza s/n 0500M which used
to accompany him through various earlier editions
of the Italian road race.
Swiss
collector Peter von Muralt showed up in his
French blue 250 MM Berlinetta Pinin Farina s/n
0310M; yes, he bought the car at the noted Brooks
auction at Gstaad last December. This Ferrari had
not been seen racing for years or probably even
decades.
The
gorgeous 166 MM/53 Spider Vignale s/n 0314M of
Walter Fink from Stuttgart/Germany had apparently
been handed over to friends of his to drive in
the Mille Miglia. It was the first outing of the
car in an event since the sale by noted German
collector Peter Gläsel.
Another
car from Germany sported the same
color-combination of burgundy and silver: the 225
Inter Coupé Vignale s/n 0223EL of Axel Urban
from Hamburg and Cornelius Tamboer of Puerto
Rico. The 250 GT LWB Berlinetta TdF s/n 1037GT,
which had been offered for sale by Urban for
about one year was now seen in the hands of its
new owner, collector Andrew Pisker from the UK.
 
Two
500 TRs took part in the event: the yellow
example s/n 0622MDTR of John Devine and restorer
Steve Tillack, and s/n 0634MDTR of Japanese
Ferrarista Mr. Nakamizo. The latter attracted
many curious fans since it had not been seen in
Europe for quite a long time.
 
 
The
last Ferrari which I would like to mention
separately is the 340 MM Barchetta Touring s/n
0284AM of the Italian team of Cané/Auteri. This
is not just because it is a rare car, but because
of the fact that 0284AM was the winning car of
the 1999 Mille Miglia Storica!
Ferrari
has been synonymous with the Mille Miglia forever
– this is unlikely to change in the next
century.
Andreas
Birner
See
you next year !
More
Ferraris ?
| Mille
Miglia - Galleries |
| '94 |
'95 & '96 &
'97 |
'98 |
 |
|
|
| '99 |
|
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