At the end of May on the banks of Lake Como, the world-renowned Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este returned and this year a GTO client was entered in his magnificent 1955 Ferrari 250 GT Europa Competitzione Pinin Farina Speciale.
Lakeside at Villa d'Este - Photography Thomas Howarth
The car is a unique Competition Europa GT with special Pinin Farina coachwork. Launched at the 1955 Paris Salon, the Ferrari 250 Europa GT had a Colombo short-block engine replacing the Lampredi long-block found in the previous Ferrari 250 Europa. For racing intent, the all-alloy Colombo unit with separate heads was a more suitable V12 than the simpler long-block.
The artwork from the 2019 Concorso d'Eleganza Catalogue
The rear of this particular left-hand drive one-off shares styling cues in the form of twin flying-buttresses with other Pinin Farina one-off cars of the period including a 375 MM (0456AM) shown at the previous year’s 1954 Paris Salon and a 375 America (0355AL) shown at 1955 the Turin Salon, both having the Lampredi long-block. In addition, a one-off Pinin Farina Fiat 8V (#0085) also had the treatment and was shown at the 1955 Geneva Salon.
The rear of the car in the rain which at least emphasised the lines - Photography Thomas Howarth
As the only Colombo-engined of this trio, 0403GT remains a unique and special example of the Pinin Farina design cue, thought to of heavily influenced later Ferrari design with rear buttresses echoed on the Dino in 1965 and even up to the 599 GTB Fiorano in 2006.
The GTO Engineering research to support the car entry.
