1960 Ferrari 250 GT

Road car production moved from being a necessity for Ferrari to an essential part of the company's ongoing stability. The earliest series-production Ferrari automobiles, the 250 Europa, were built from 1953 to 1954 totaling twenty cars. The Europa was followed by the 250 GT in 1954, which brought a more compact and lighter Colombo-designed 3-liter V12 in place of the predecessor's Lampredi unit. By this point, these were still batch-produced specialty cars with cosmetic features and mechanical attributes which often varied from one example to the next. This was true of the first series cabriolets which was been designed and built by Pinin Farina at their specialty shop rather than the Grugliasco factory, which was still under construction.

As the 1960s came into view, Ferrari was perfecting their production model line-up. Ferrari recognized that there had been many external similarities between the road-going cabriolets and the Scaglietti-built California Spider for customers to easily understand the difference. Ferrari corrected this with the introduction of Pinin Farina's second-series 250 GT Cabriolet prototype on chassis number 1213 GT in late 1959. The Series II was visually different from the California Spiders, wearing a more rounded nose and faired-in headlamps. It had improved interior space for the occupants as well as additional room in the trunk. It offered a greater level of luxury along with grand touring readability.

Mechanical improvements included all-wheel disc brakes and the latest iteration of the classic Colombo V-12 engine, coded as the Tipo 128F. The engine, first appearing in one of the aluminum-bodied California Spiders of 1959, had its spark plugs relocated to the V-12's outside surfaced, and the coil-valve springs were substituted for hairpins. These changes allowed the engine to breathe better and improved reliability and torque.

The new cabriolet made its debut in 1959 at the Paris Motor Show and approximately 200 examples of the second-series Pinin Farina Cabriolet were produced through mid-1962.

by Daniel Vaughan | Jul 2018