Ferrari 250 GT 2 + 2

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Ferrari
Ferrari 250 GT 2 + 2
Ferrari 250 GT 2 + 2
250 GT 2 + 2
Production period: 1960-1963
Class : Sports car
Body versions : Coupe
Engines: Otto engine :
3.0 liters (177 kW)
Length: 4700 mm
Width: 1710 mm
Height: 1341 mm
Wheelbase : 2600 mm
Empty weight : 1450 kg
Previous model Ferrari 250 GT Coupe
successor Ferrari 330 America

The Ferrari 250 GT 2 + 2 (from 1963: Ferrari 250 GTE 2 + 2 ) is a sports car from the Italian car manufacturer Ferrari , which was built from 1960 to 1963. It belongs to the diversified Ferrari 250 model family , with which it shares essential elements of the drive technology and the chassis. The 250 GTE 2 + 2 was Ferrari's first mass-produced four-seater and, with a production of 950 units, the brand's most successful single model to date. The vehicles were largely standardized. There were only a few special versions, including two police vehicles .

background

After the end of the Second World War , the Modenese company Ferrari, whose beginnings lie in racing, expanded its activities to include the manufacture of street sports cars. After Ferrari had initially produced more or less individual pieces, the 250 model family appeared in 1953 as an alternative to the large Ferrari models 340 and 375, which were often exported overseas . As is usual with Ferrari, both street and racing versions belonged to the 250 series. Apart from the 250 Europa, which was only produced in 1953, Ferrari built a 3.0 liter version of the short twelve-cylinder engine from Gioacchino Colombo into all members of the 250 family .

The production of road cars started slowly at Ferrari. The 250 Europa (1953) and its successor, the 250 Europa GT (1954), each produced fewer than 100 cars. With the 250 GT presented in 1955 , which the bodyworks Boano and Ellena built, Ferrari achieved low three-digit numbers for the first time. The successor 250 GT Coupé Pininfarina presented in 1958 , on the other hand, has already been built around 350 times in two years. With him, Ferrari became a “real series manufacturer.” In 1960 Ferrari replaced the 250 GT Coupé, which like all its predecessors had been a pure two-seater, with the larger 250 GTE 2 + 2. With it, the company broke new ground again: It was the first mass-produced four-seater Ferrari and the company's largest car to date. In addition, its equipment was more luxurious than all previous models. With this repositioning, Ferrari also expanded its customer base: In the meantime, the brand also appealed to (wealthy) family fathers.

Parallel to the 250 GTE 2 + 2, Ferrari offered several vehicles with a more sporty orientation:

The 250 GT 2 + 2 was a great economic success for Ferrari. In 1963, the company began to gradually replace the 250 series with the more powerful 330 family , which among other things had larger engines. This family also had a 2 + 2-seater who took on the role of the 250 GT 2 + 2: It was initially the interim model 330 America , whose body was still the same as that of the 250 GTE 2 + 2, before the 330 after a short transition period GT 2 + 2 with its own structure took its place.

nomenclature

As was common at Ferrari at the time, the number code 250 is derived from the engine and refers to the rounded displacement of an individual cylinder in cubic centimeters (here: 246 cm³, rounded to 250 cm³). In the first three years of its production, the factory designation was 250 GT 2 + 2. In the third and last series, launched in 1963, Ferrari changed the name to 250 GTE 2 + 2. In contrast to this, the series is sometimes referred to in the literature as 250 GTE 2 + 2 or 250 GT / 2 + 2 without differentiation.

description

Engine and drive

Tipo 128 twelve-cylinder in the 250GTE 2 + 2

The drive of the 250 GT 2 + 2 essentially corresponds to that of the predecessor model. Like this, the 2 + 2 has a variant of the short-block twelve-cylinder, which goes back to a design by Gioacchino Colombo from 1947 and which is also found in a similar form in the other models of the Ferrari 250 family. The twelve-cylinder engine has a displacement of 2953 cm³ (bore × stroke: 73 × 58.8 mm). The cylinder bank angle is 60 degrees. Each bank of cylinders has an overhead camshaft driven by a chain. There is an inlet and an outlet valve for each cylinder. Mixture preparation is done by three double Weber carburettors (type 36DCF). In contrast to earlier versions, in this version of the Colombo engine the spark plugs were no longer installed inside the V formed by the cylinder banks, but outside. The engine output is 240 hp (177 kW) at around 7000 revolutions per minute.

The variant of the Colombo engine installed in the 250 GT 2 + 2 is called Tipo 128 . The engines were gradually developed over the course of the production cycle. Initially the version Tipo 128E was installed, after a while the "F" version replaced it. In the first examples, the power is transmitted through a manual four-speed gearbox that is coupled with an electrically selectable overdrive from Laycock-de Normanville . Later versions have a manual five-speed transmission.

chassis

The chassis of the 250 GTE 2 + 2 is similar to that of its predecessor. It is still the construction called Tipo 508 , which has the suffix "E" here. The basis is a frame made of oval steel tubes. Like its predecessor, the wheelbase is 2600 mm. The front wheels are individually suspended on double wishbones , with coil springs, hydraulic Houdaille lever shock absorbers and a stabilizer . At the rear, the 250 GTE 2 + 2 has a rigid axle with two longitudinally arranged leaf springs, plus two trailing arms and telescopic shock absorbers . All models have disc brakes all around.

In order to create the space necessary for a four-seater, the engine and transmission in the 250 GTE 2 + 2 have been moved 20 cm forwards compared to the predecessor. This results in a longer overhang than the previous 250 GTs.

body

Semi-Fastback: Ferrari 250 GTE 2 + 2
Three round lights: the rear of Series 1 and 2
interior

Design and construction

The Ferrari 250 GT 2 + 2 is a two-seater coupe with two backup seats in the back. The rear seats offer "two children comfortably space" and are "sufficient for adults, at least for a short time."

The body was completely redesigned. It did not take over any details from the previous model. The design goes back to the Turin company Pininfarina , which was closely involved in the development of the car from the very beginning. The shape of the structure had been tested in the wind tunnel of the Politecnico di Torino . The belt line runs horizontally from the headlights to the rear fenders, which taper off at an angle. The chrome-framed rear lights are embedded in their ends. The passenger compartment now has three windows on each side (including the triangular window in the doors). The roof structure follows a semi-fastback style. The roof forms a slight overhang over the top of the rear window. The line then slopes down towards the trunk. The B-pillar is inclined at right angles to it. In terms of dimensions, the 250 GT 2 + 2 significantly exceeds its predecessor. At 4700 mm, it is more than 300 mm longer than the 250 GT Coupé, and it is 60 mm wider. In the course of the production cycle, the design was only changed in a few details.

The structure of the 250 GT 2 + 2 consists of sheet steel. Unlike the sportier versions, there are no vehicles with aluminum bodies.

reviews

The design is rated inconsistently. Some consider the 250 GT 2 + 2 to be the most beautiful road Ferrari ever built. The shape is described as "timelessly elegant," but sometimes also as "quite good". To contemporary observers, the structure of the 250 GT 2 + 2 sometimes looked "much more massive" than that of its predecessor.

The individual series

Brand chronists divide the production into three series, which differ from each other by minor cosmetic changes:

  • Series 1: October 1960 to mid-1961
  • Series 2: Mid 1961 to February 1963: no external changes, but redesigned dashboard.
  • Series 3: from March 1963: Long tail lights instead of three round lights; Positioning of the front auxiliary lights under the main lights. The car is now called the 250 GTE 2 + 2.

Presentation and production

In the spring of 1960, two prototypes were made. One of them used the chassis of an older 250 model.

The 250 GT 2 + 2 first appeared publicly at the 24-hour race at Le Mans in 1960 . Contrary to the representations in individual more recent publications, the car was not registered as a race participant. Rather, it served as a vehicle for the route marshals. Regardless of this, Ferrari dominated the race: The 250 Testa Rossa of the works team and the North American Racing team were overall winner and runner-up overall; In addition, four 250 GT Berlinetta SWB from various customer teams took first to fourth place in the GT class. After this success, the media began to report intensively on the upcoming “great Ferrari”. The car was then presented at the Paris Motor Show four months later in October 1960 . After that, series production began.

The 250 GT 2 + 2 were built at Pininfarina in Grugliasco . Ferrari only manufactured the engines itself. In three years, Pininfarina produced 954 vehicles with chassis numbers 01895GT to 04961GT. In addition, there are 50 copies of the successor 330 America, which, with the exception of the engine, coincided with the 250 GT 2 + 2 in terms of style and technology.

Special versions

The vehicles of the 250-GT-2 + 2 series are largely standardized. Only individual special versions were created during the production period. After the end of production, some chassis were clad with different bodies, in other cases 250 GT 2 + 2 chassis served as part donors for other vehicles.

Pininfarina Speciale

Taillights of a 400 Superamerica

The 2821GT chassis received an independent body ex works in 1961. Up to the doors, the front end corresponded to the standard body of the 250 GT 2 + 2, but the rear section with the sloping trunk and the rear lights integrated into the bumpers was modeled on the 400 Superamerica . The technology corresponded to the 250 GT 2 + 2, but the car had an older engine of the type 128C, later a Tipo 128E was retrofitted. The four-speed gearbox had no overdrive. Pininfarina exhibited the car in London in October 1961. It still exists and was sold for $ 2.3 million in 2014.

250 GT 2 + 2 Polizia Mobile

250 GT 2 + 2 Polizia Mobile (No. 3999)

In 1962 and 1963 two special versions of the 250 GT 2 + 2 were created for the police. The trigger was the particularly high crime rate in Rome at that time , on the occasion of which the Roman police chief and Italy's President Giovanni Gronchi identified a need for particularly fast police vehicles with which fleeing gangsters could be pursued. Ferrari then provided the Roman police with two 250 GT 2 + 2, one after the other, which were equipped with a blue light, a siren and a radio intercom and were painted in the dark blue of the Italian police. The technology remained unchanged.

The first police vehicle (chassis number 3363) was delivered in 1962. A fatal accident occurred a little later when police officers took a car test drive on a public road. The car was completely destroyed. The second vehicle (chassis number 3999), which was very similar to the first, was delivered to the Squadra Mobile of the Roman police in 1963 . Its primary driver was Armando Spadafora, a policeman who became a celebrity in Italy. He had received driver training from racing driver Roberto Lippi in 1963 . The car was in use until 1973; it should also have come to several car chases. In 1973 the car was auctioned. He still exists.

The car gained international fame. Numerous providers sold model cars in different sizes. Even more than 40 years after the car was taken out of service, kits are still being produced.

250 GT Fantuzzi NART Spyder

Fantuzzi-Spyder for NART

The 1961 built 250 GT 2 + 2 with the chassis number 2235 initially had a standard body. The car was delivered to an Argentine customer via the US Ferrari importer Luigi Chinetti , who after a short time damaged the car in an accident. Chinetti took the car back and commissioned the Carrozzeria Fantuzzi from Modena to design and build a completely new body. Fantuzzi designed a two-seater Spyder with a rounded body in 1965. A special feature was a roll bar behind the seats, which took up a design feature of the Ferrari 250P racing car . The chassis of the 250 GT 2 + 2 remained unchanged. With a view to the North American Racing Team operated by Chinetti, the car was given the designation 250 GT Fantuzzi NART Spyder. Chinetti exhibited the car in San Francisco in November 1965 and in New York the following April , but initially did not sell it. In 1966 the engine was revised and converted to the Testa Rossa specification. The car then passed through the hands of several US owners. In the 1988s, it was completely restored. In August 2016, the NART Spyder was sold for US $ 1.1 million at an auction in Monterey .

The 250 GT 2 + 2 as a parts dispenser

In some cases, 250 GT 2 + 2 chassis were used to rebuild or rebuild other Ferrari models. Piero Drogo's Carrozzeria Sports Cars was indirectly involved in such projects twice .

In one case, the starting point was a chassis from the 250 GT Berlinetta SWB series. In 1961 this chassis (number 2735GT) had a special body from Carrozzeria Sports Cars. In 1980 the company Grand Prix Metalcraft removed the Drogo body from this chassis and rebuilt a Berlinetta SWB body on the chassis, which formally corresponded to the factory SWB. The Drogo body, however, was transferred to a modified 250 GT 2 + 2 chassis (chassis number 3611GT).

Another vehicle with a similar history was originally a 250 GTO . The car (chassis number 3445) was built by Scaglietti in 1962 with a standard GTO body and initially belonged to Scuderia Serenissima before the Swedish racing driver Ulf Norinder took over the car. When the car needed an overhaul in 1965, Scaglietti had no spare capacity. Instead, Drogo redesigned the car. The GTO chassis remained unchanged, but the body was slightly modified. In the 1970s the car belonged to the British racing driver Robert Lamplough , who damaged it in a traffic accident in 1976. The GTO chassis was then repaired. The Drogo body was removed and replaced with a newly built GTO body in the original design. Drogo's body, on the other hand, was connected to a 250 GT 2 + 2 chassis (number 2423GT). The car received a regular GT-2 + 2 engine.

Technical specifications

Data sheet Ferrari 250 GT Coupé
Technical data Ferrari 250 GT 2 + 2 and GTE 2 + 2
Engine: 12-cylinder V-engine (four-stroke), fork angle 60 °, longitudinally at the front
Engine type: Tipo 128E
Tipo 128F
Displacement: 2953 cc
Bore × stroke: 73 x 58.8 mm
Performance at 1 / min: 240 hp (177 kW) at 7000
Max. Torque at 1 / min: 260 Nm at 5000
Compression: 8.8: 1
Mixture preparation: 3 downdraft twin carburettors Weber 36DCF
Valve control: overhead camshafts
Cooling: Water cooling
Transmission: 4-speed gearbox
from 1960 with overdrive
Front suspension: Independent suspension
Double wishbones, coil springs, telescopic shock absorbers
Rear suspension: Rigid axle on longitudinal leaf springs, telescopic shock absorbers
Brakes: Disc brakes all around, hydraulically operated
Steering: Snail and roller
Body: Sheet steel on oval tube frame chassis
Track width front / rear: 1354/1349 mm
Wheelbase: 2600 mm
Dimensions: 4700 × 1710 × 1341 mm
Empty weight: 1450 kg
Top speed: 210-240 km / h
Number of pieces: 954

literature

  • Leonardo Acerbi: Ferrari: A Complete Guide to All Models. MBI Publishing Company LLC, 2006, ISBN 978-0-7603-2550-6 .
  • Georg Amtmann, Halwart Schrader: Italian sports cars. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-613-01988-4
  • Matthias Braun, Ernst Fischer, Manfred Steinert, Alexander Franc Storz: Ferrari road and racing cars since 1946. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 978-3-613-02651-3 .
  • Peter Braun, Gregor Schulz: The great Ferrari manual. All series and racing vehicles from 1947 to the present day. Heel Verlag, Königswinter 2006, ISBN 3-89880-501-8 .
  • Godfrey Eaton: The Complete Ferrari. Edited by Geoff Willoughby. Cadogan Books, London 1985, ISBN 0-947754-10-5 .
  • Brian Laban: Ferrari. Translated from the English by Frauke Watson. Parragon Books, Bath 2006, ISBN 978-1-4054-1409-8 .
  • Frank Oleski, Hartmut Lehbrink: Series sports cars. Könemann, Cologne 1993, ISBN 3-89508-000-4 .

Web links

Commons : Ferrari 250 GT 2 + 2  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Description of the 250 GT 2 + 2 on the website www.topspeed.com

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Matthias Braun, Ernst Fischer, Manfred Steinert, Alexander Franc Storz: Ferrari road and racing cars since 1946. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 978-3-613-02651-3 , p. 180 f.
  2. ↑ Matthias Braun, Ernst Fischer, Manfred Steinert, Alexander Franc Storz: Ferrari road and racing cars since 1946. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 978-3-613-02651-3 , p. 195.
  3. ^ A b Frank Oleski, Hartmut Lehbrink: Series sports car. Könemann, Cologne 1993, ISBN 3-89508-000-4 , p. 188.
  4. ↑ Description of the 250 GT 2 + 2 on the website www.topspeed.com (accessed on September 5, 2018).
  5. ^ A b c d Brian Laban: Ferrari. Translated from the English by Frauke Watson. Parragon Books, Bath 2006, ISBN 978-1-4054-1409-8 , p. 43.
  6. ^ Peter Braun, Gregor Schulz: The large Ferrari manual. All series and racing vehicles from 1947 to the present day. Heel Verlag, Königswinter 2006, ISBN 3-89880-501-8 , p. 56 ff.
  7. ↑ a b c Matthias Braun, Ernst Fischer, Manfred Steinert, Alexander Franc Storz: Ferrari road and racing cars since 1946. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 978-3-613-02651-3 , p. 209.
  8. ↑ a b c Matthias Braun, Ernst Fischer, Manfred Steinert, Alexander Franc Storz: Ferrari road and racing cars since 1946. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 978-3-613-02651-3 , p. 210.
  9. ↑ a b Kevin Brazendale: Encyclopedia of automobiles from Alfa Romeo to Zagato . Augsburg (Weltbild Verlag) 2000, ISBN 3-8289-5384-0 , p. 166.
  10. ↑ a b c Peter Braun, Gregor Schulz: The great Ferrari manual. All series and racing vehicles from 1947 to the present day. Heel Verlag, Königswinter 2006, ISBN 3-89880-501-8 , s. 55.
  11. ^ Automobil Revue , spring 1961 edition.
  12. ^ Peter Braun, Gregor Schulz: The large Ferrari manual. All series and racing vehicles from 1947 to the present day. Heel Verlag, Königswinter 2006, ISBN 3-89880-501-8 , s. 59.
  13. ^ Peter Braun, Gregor Schulz: The large Ferrari manual. All series and racing vehicles from 1947 to the present day. Heel Verlag, Königswinter 2006, ISBN 3-89880-501-8 , s. 63.
  14. ↑ Entry list for the 24-hour race of Le Mans 1960 on the website www.racingsportscars.com (accessed on September 6, 2018).
  15. ^ Matthias Braun, Ernst Fischer, Manfred Steinert, Alexander Franc Storz: Ferrari road and racing cars since 1946. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 978-3-613-02651-3 , p. 211.
  16. ↑ Sales report on the website www.goodingco.com (accessed on September 7, 2018).
  17. ↑ Description and history of the car on the website www.automotivemasterpieces.com (accessed on September 6, 2018).
  18. ↑ History of the vehicle on the website www.barchetta.cc (accessed on September 6, 2018).
  19. ↑ Description of the Drogo Ferrari 250 GT SWB Speciale on the website www.coachbuild.com (accessed on September 6, 2018).
  20. ↑ Description and illustrations on the website www.coachbuild.com (accessed on September 6, 2018).