Two men and a car

BONHAMS TO AUCTION VERY RARE EX-WORKS TEAM FERRARI 375-PLUS SPORTS RACING CAR   scheduled for Friday, June 27th at Goodwood House in Chichester, 

Sussex, UK.

For all the lover of the very rare Ferrari 375 Plus here comes your chance to get one of only five still existing models, from which one was destroyed. This one is the first. I wasn't able to attend the press conference in London at Bonhams but my friend was there, thats the reason I do came to this amazing story. 

The 375 Plus was only in 1954 available for the works drivers of the Scuderia available. The privateer had to make it with the Ferrari375MM.   The 375 Plus had a 330 hp V12 engine, which was derived from the engine of the Formula 1-375F1. The original 4.4-liter agreggat was enlarged to 4954 cc. This extra half liter displacement showed the "Plus" in the type designation. 

Pininfarina created six copies which were used in the world championship. With the 375 plus the Scuderia celebrated in 1954 three big international victories. Drivers included Jose Froilan Gonzalez from Argentina – known as ‘the Pampas Bull’ as much for his courage as his physique – and Umberto Maglioli, the great Italian long distance road racer.  Car0384 AM being offered by Bonhams was the 1954 works entry driven by Maglioli in the Mille Miglia, then piloted to victory by the great Argentine star, Froilan Gonzalez, at Silverstone. In its last factory team outing it was co-driven by Maglioli and Paolo Marzotto in that year’s Le Mans 24-Hour race.

The car then passed to well known amateur racer and Kleenex heir, Jim Kimberly, in the USA, before being sold to Howard Hively, an Ohio Cadillac dealer, in 1955. He campaigned the car enthusiastically at Watkins Glen, Nassau and Sebring, as well as in the 1957 Cuban Grand Prix. Howard Hively then sold the Ferrari to Ohio resident and nuclear physicist, Karl Kleve. It later passed to noted Belgian Ferrari importer, racer and close friend of Enzo Ferrari, Jacques Swaters, founder of the highly successful Ecurie Francochamps racing team. Jacques Swaters had the car fully restored in Modena. Long-running title disputes over the car broke out between the Kleve and Swaters families, which Bonhams is glad to have been able to assist in resolving. (Please read USA Today article)

Bonhams is proud to have been instructed to offer the car without reserve at the Goodwood Festival of Speed this summer where last year Bonhams sold the ex-Juan Manuel Fangio Mercedes Benz W196 for £20m, the world record price for any car sold at public auction. The car will be sold with a spare period works block engine and its original body panels, still bearing traces of the 1957 Cuban GrandPrix race colours.

Let's see if this car will set up a new world record...

Photos by ©Bonhams and C.G.