Stephen if you do put a book out of these stories.

I will gladly purchase a copy or two, as probably will the rest of us.

Again, thank you for your time.

 

Can't believe i'm just now finding this thread! Welcome aboard and thank you so much for sharing your experiences.

 

Here is a promo for my documentary on the original Carrera Panamericana. There are at least a few Ferraris to be seen:

YouTube - Carrera Panamericana (1950-54)

 

What stage is your documentary in? Is this something that's a while away or something we should all be watching out for in the near future?

 

I am still in the early stages of filming and hope to have it ready to screen at the Cannes Film Festival in May.

 

IMO 250 GTO is the most beautiful Ferrari aver built.
Ferrari ended building nice cars with the 512BB, after this they have been selling only very expensive FIAT... what a shame...

 

Back in the day, I used to be very active in the Ferrari Owners Club in Los Angeles. I began attending meetings after acquiring my first Ferrari, a Berlinetta Lusso, and I remember making the acquaintance of Matthew Ettinger and the Ferrari Breadvan at the first meeting I attended one evening in Santa Monica. As I recall, Bob Bondurant and Franco Lini were guest speakers. At the time, Asa Clark still owned the 'van but it wouldn't be long before Matthew took over ownership and our adventures together with the Breadvan and the GTO would begin.

One of the functions organized by the FOC was the Virginia City Hill Climb where we would descend in numbers on this small historic town in Nevada to conduct races up a road that the town blocked off for the purpose and to socialize like there was no tomorrow (to put it in the best possible light).

A few days ago, a Google news alert brought my attention to a copy of an FOC newsletter posted on the Internet in PDF format (See: http://www.ferrari250gte.com/i/libra...09_Ferrari.pdf). Interestingly, it featured an article by FOC member Mark Dees about the 1974 hill climb event in which I participated.

The article featured a photo of my GTO (notice the extra air vents in the nose replacing the driving lamps); it was then owned by Stuart Baumgard and driven in the hill climb by Claudio Zampolli. Claudio would later create the well-known Cizeta (Italian for CZ, his initials) supercar. I participated in a 454 Corvette with extremely loud side pipes. It was a very heavy car--some 1200 pounds heavier than a GTO--with most of its weight up front. I did only one run without any practice and managed a time of 4 minutes, 45 seconds with an average speed of 61.3 mph. Claudio managed the same distance in the GTO in 3 minutes, 57 seconds with an average speed of 74.0 mph. Fastest Time of the Day was set by George Dyer Jr in another GTO (#4219) clocking 3 minutes, 37 seconds and averaging 80.4 mph. It was a memorable event. I had previously taken part with the second of my Lussos and the event was always full of rewarding moments and memories.

Would love to do it again!

 

Great story. Thank you again for continuing to share your memories with us.

 

Reading through my friend Marc Sonnery's book Rebel, Rebel which deals with the life and times of the Ferrari Breadvan, I was taken back to a period of my life when I saw the car several times a week and, sometimes, drove it. During the time that I owned my GTO, the Breadvan was owned by my friend and fellow Ferrari Owner Club member Matthew Ettinger. One of the things we had in common was that we loved driving our cars--usually at a rate of speed higher than that dictated by posted speed limits.

It is natural to draw comparisons between the GTO and the Breadvan. They both sprang from the SWB berlinetta and both were Giotto Bizzarrini's vision of what the next generation of GT racer should be. I've heard it reported that, had Bizzarrini stayed with Ferrari instead of joining the famous and historic walk-out with Carlo Chiti et al, the next series of GTO would have been the Breadvan. That would have been an interesting development. The GTO64--or Series 2 as it is often called--was less an evolution of the GTO than a stop-gap when it was realized the 250LM would not be homologated.

The most notable attribute of the GTO relative to the SWB was the lack of leg room. Giotto had moved the engine rearward to make for better weight distribution and that severely limited the space to stretch out your legs. With the Breadvan, he moved the engine back even further and you sit with knees up and legs splayed. The Breadvan was lighter than the GTO and you have a sense of this just from looking at the car, but when seen side-by-side with a GTO, several aspects become apparent. The first is that the 'van has a lower roofline. The second is that the body of the 'van is leaner than that of the GTO. My guess is that both cars put out the same amount of horsepower as they had similar specifications. The GTO had a five-speed transmission whereas the Breadvan used the four-speed from the SWB. Aerodynamics on racecars was still a developing technology but it is clear that the Breadvan had a smaller frontal aspect and that must count for something in terms of efficiency.

On the road (or track) both cars are pure excitement. With little or no insulation, the sounds of the V12 with its timing chains, induction noises and exhaust made for a very rousing experience whether one was driving to the supermarket or flat-out on the way to Las Vegas. I found the Breadvan to be quicker off the line in first gear but beyond that, the cars seemed comparable. My GTO had tall gearing and I was usually passing the flow of traffic upon entering a freeway before needing to shift into second gear. On mountainous roads, the two cars made great companions--I could stay on the Breadvan's tail and Matthew could keep pace with the GTO. The sight of these two cars racing along the road was memorable, to say the least.

Late one night, Matthew and I were 'touring' with our good friend John Andrews in his Miura. We were booking down a mountain on a pitch-black night when I suddenly realized that the Breadvan's headlights were no longer behind me. I flashed my lights at John and we pulled to a stop. It was dead silent and the Breadvan did not catch us up. John and I reversed up the mountain fearing that Matthew had taken the Breadvan over the cliff. Several turns up the road, we hear Matthew's distinctive voice cursing his fate and a few other things as well. He had gone off the road dislodging the battery, which hadn't been secured, and disconnecting the cables in the process. The car stopped but an inch short of going off the cliff and into the abyss. John and I exchanged a glance of relief as Matthew, apparently oblivious to the near miss, dealt with the battery. Once the connection was re-established, we were off again as though nothing had happened.

I loved the GTO. I would love to have owned the Breadvan. What seemed normal and very much a part of our daily lives at the time seems extraordinary in retrospect. Could such an experience ever repeat itself? Which would I want today given the chance and all things being equal? There's no doubt in my mind—I’d take the...

 

Hehe my heart was racing at the part where the breadvan almost went off the cliff. I can't say how much I enjoy your stories. Since I'm relatively young, this to me is a completely different era of supercars, one that I will only experience from photographs and videos. But reading your stories, it's almost as if I were there.

About the breadvan, there is still a chance you can own one. Build one on your own based on the new FF, I think it would be a terrific project