Centre-stage in GT racing’s most golden of eras. It’s an apt way to describe the 1962/64 GTO, the ultimate iteration of Ferrari’s hallowed line of 250 GT models. The mere suggestion of this desperately special dual-purpose Gran Turismo inspires hushed whispers among disciples of the Prancing Horse. Only a car deemed of such celestial beauty and distinguished importance as the 250 GTO could garner such reverence.

Each subtly different, a mere 36 three-litre GTOs saw the light of day – in both soft, sultry ‘Series I’ and sleek, sharp ‘Series II’ guises. It embodied Enzo Ferrari’s obsessive quest for design excellence. There was barely a peak of the endurance-racing world the 250 GTO didn’t summit.

In the hands of steely and deeply charismatic Works and privateer drivers such as Phill Hill, Lorenzo Bandini, Graham Hill and Stirling Moss, GTOs earned victories in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the 12 Hours of Sebring and the gruelling Tour de France Automobile. The model clinched Ferrari the International Championship for GT Manufacturers thrice consecutively from 1962–1964.

Over six decades on from its introduction to the world, the Ferrari 250 GTO is, in short, the most desirable Ferrari of them all. And, as a result, the ultimate collector car. Ownership grants access to a club of the utmost exclusivity and an unwritten open invitation to the world’s most prestigious concours and historic race meetings. There are very few higher rungs to climb on the automotive collecting ladder – and, as we have tried to reason, for extremely good reason.

The 32nd Ferrari 250 GTO built, chassis number 4675 GT was acquired new in September of 1963 by Guido Fossati and Ariberto Francolini, who promptly entered the Tour de France Automobile – arguably the most challenging road race of them all. The GTO’s reign as the quickest Gran Turismo in the world remained unthreatened, with the cars of Jean Guichet and Lucien Bianchi taking the top two spots.

The Targa Florio was the first appearance of this 250 GTO after its factory restoration in 1963

Alas, an accident put paid to Fossati and Francolini’s race and chassis 4675 GT was returned to Maranello to be recloaked with Scaglietti’s updated 1964 body. Of the four 1963-style 250 GTOs upgraded to ‘Series II’ guise by the factory in period, this was the only example specified with the extended rear roofline. 

Upon completion in April of 1964, chassis 4675 GT was acquired by the Milan-based Scuderia ASA Elmo d’Argento  and entered in that year’s Targa Florio. In what was quite the coup for the small privateer team, Jean Guichet was employed to pilot the car alongside Carlo Facetti. Ferrari’s three World Championships for Manufacturers achieved with the GTO simply would not have been possible without Guichet.

This Ferrari 250 GTO enjoyed a competitive career on the European road-racing circuit

If any driver had truly realised the potential of the Ferrari 250 GTO, it was Guichet. The Frenchman had already etched the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Nürburgring 1,000KM and the (aforementioned) Tour de France Automobile to the GTO’s proverbial bedpost. And on the sun-baked roads of Sicily, it quickly appeared he was going to add the history-steeped Targa Florio to that list of victories.

Despite a record-breaking first lap and a firm lead at the midway point, chassis 4675 GT was smitten with transmission failure. Redemption for Guichet came two weeks later in the Grand Prix de Spa 500KM where, racing under the famous Scuderia Fillipinetti banner, he finished second overall with this GTO.

Over the course of the next two years, chassis number 4675 GT was raced predominantly in domestic Italian events by serial Ferrari gentlemen drivers Oddone Sigala and Vincenzo ‘Nanni’ Nember. And with considerable success – in the highly competitive Italian Hill-Climb Championship, especially, outright victories were aplenty. This GTO’s final recorded outing came in the World Championship-qualifying Monza 1,000KM in 1966, where it was raced by Luigi Taramazzo and Giorgio Pianta, the latter of whom would famously become one of the most influential test-drivers Italy had ever seen.

The years and decades following this 250 GTO’s period competition career are studded with the names of great Ferrari collections. Jim Hall (yes, the founder of Chaparral Cars). Harley Cluxton. Walter Medlin. And Yoshiho Matsuda. Over the course of its life, chassis number 4675 has shared garage space with tens of the world’s greatest Ferraris, from 1950s Pinin Farina-bodied Speciales to Group-5 512 prototypes from the 1970s. 

Our estimable leader Max Girardo entered the fray in 2010, when he sold this 250 GTO to Chris Evans, the British radio DJ and television personality. Shortly after the deal was concluded, and after close consultation with Max, Evans sent chassis number 4675 to Ferrari Classiche in Maranello to be comprehensively restored.

Twenty eleven saw this 250 GTO returned to Maranello to be restored by Ferrari Classiche. With a Prancing Horse of such historical significance and value, Ferrari Classiche is, so far as we are concerned, the only option when it comes to restoration. With full access to the factory’s historic archive of technical documentation, reference imagery and period tooling, the ingegneri at the factory were best placed to ensure chassis 4675 was restored with absolute accuracy.

Fastidiously undertaken over the course of two years, the project left no stone unturned - from the bare-metal body treatment and refinish in its original shade of Rosso Cina to the disassembly, inspection and complete rebuild of the three-litre Colombo V12. The resulting condition speaks for itself. There isn’t an inch of this GTO that hasn’t been bestowed with artisanal love and attention. The spartan bare-metal interior, especially, looks every bit as good as the day the car left the factory in 1963.

Crucially, upon completion of the project, chassis 4675 was awarded with its full red-book Ferrari Classiche certification, confirming the matching-numbers status of its chassis, engine and gearbox. An official seal of approval from the marque which manufactured it. The certification’s importance cannot be downplayed. 

SOLD