Ferrari 275 GTB / 4 NART Spyder

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Ferrari
275 GTB / 4 NART Spyder
275 GTB / 4 NART Spyder
275 GTB / 4 NART Spyder
Production period: 1967-1968
Class : Sports car
Body versions : Cabriolet
Engines: Otto engine :
4.0 liters (221 kW)
Length: 4410 mm
Width: 1725 mm
Height: 1200 mm
Wheelbase : 2400 mm
Empty weight : 1050-1100 kg

The Ferrari 275 GTB / 4 NART Spyder is an open sports car with the chassis and drive technology of the closed Ferrari 275 GTB / 4 . It is the first Ferrari convertible to have a twelve-cylinder engine with four overhead camshafts. The cars, which were built in a small series of ten, were created on the initiative of the US Ferrari importer Luigi Chinetti and were not part of Ferrari's official model range. 50 years after the end of production, they are among the most sought-after and expensive street sports cars of the 1960s. They are paid tens of millions of dollars in US dollars.

background

North American Racing Team logo

From 1963 Ferrari offered the street sports car model family 330 . It included several comfort-oriented coupés of different sizes. The engines of these vehicles had twelve cylinders and a displacement of 4 liters. In 1964, Ferrari added a significantly lighter high-performance sports car to this series, the 275 GTB with a smaller engine than the 330 series, but with the same output. At the same time, the open version 275 GTS appeared . It has an independent body and no formal reference to the GTB. In 1966 Ferrari replaced the 275 GTB with the outwardly identical, but more powerful 275 GTB / 4 , which was the first production Ferrari to have an engine with four overhead camshafts . Ferrari did not transfer this increase in performance to the open 275 GTS. Rather, its production ended together with that of the conventional GTB. From 1966, the 275 GTS was replaced by the Spyder Ferrari 330 GTS , which was geared towards greater comfort and continued to have an engine with only two overhead camshafts. At that time it was the only open car offered by Ferrari.

Luigi Chinetti, owner of the North American Racing Team (NART or NART) and Ferrari's importer for North America, was of the opinion that the 330 GTS designed by Aldo Brovarone for Pininfarina was not attractive enough for the American market. He preferred a convertible in the style of the 275 GTB / 4, which Ferrari did not offer. Chinetti was impressed by the Nembo Spyder built by Neri e Bonacini in 1965 , a convertible with the lines of the 275 GTB on a chassis of the powerful Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta SWB . Series production of the Nembo Spyder did not materialize, however, because Neri e Bonacini ceased operations at the beginning of 1967. Chinetti, who in the past had already commissioned special versions of Ferrari's series models several times, had a convertible version of the 275 GBT / 4 developed and produced in small series in Italy. The car was named 275 GTB / 4 NART Spyder with reference to Chinetti's racing team. Chinetti sold the model in the USA parallel to the factory Spyder 330 GTS. Ferrari does not see the 275 GTB / 4 NART Spyder as an official model.

description

Base model: Ferrari 275 GTB
"275 GTB with sawn-off roof": Ferrari 275 GTB / 4 NART Spyder
For comparison: the 330 GTS, Ferrari's only open works model from 1966 onwards
Rear view

technology

The technology of the NART Spyder corresponds completely to that of the closed 275 GTB / 4. Both have a chassis of the type 596, as it was already used in the 250 GT Berlinetta SWB. It is based on a box frame made of welded oval and rectangular tubes. All four wheels are individually at double wishbones suspended, with coil springs and hydraulic telescopic shock absorbers . Stabilizers are built into both axles . The NART Spyder is powered by a twelve-cylinder V-engine with 3286 cm³ displacement (bore × stroke: 77 × 58.8 mm), which bears the factory designation Tipo 226 . It has four overhead camshafts that are driven by timing chains and one inlet and one exhaust valve per cylinder. In contrast to the engine of the predecessor 275 GTB, it has dry sump lubrication . The mixture is prepared by six Weber twin carburettors (type 40 DCN9, 40 DCN17 or 40DCN18). The engine output is 300 hp (221 kW). A manual five-speed gearbox transfers it to the rear wheels. It is combined with the differential on the rear axle in a common housing ( transaxle design).

body

The body of the 275 GTB / 4 NART Spyder is a design by Sergio Scaglietti . His Modena- based company Carrozzeria Scaglietti has been completing the standard coupés 275 GTB and 275 GTB / 4 on Ferrari's behalf since 1964, while the open 330 GTS, like its predecessor, the 275 GTS, was built at Pininfarina in Grugliasco . For the 275 GTB / 4 NART Spyder, Scaglietti took the Pininfarina design of the 275 GTB as a basis and turned it into an open two-seater with a notchback. Chinetti's son described the 275 GTB / 4 NART Spyder in retrospect as a “275 GTB with a sawed-off roof”. In fact, the 275 GTB / 4 NART Spyder resembles the closed 275 GTB / 4 from the front end to the doors; however, Scaglietti had designed the rear fenders and the rear end in such a way “as if the car had been planned as a convertible from the start.” The design is generally considered to be very successful. Some authors consider the 275 GTB / 4 NART Spyder to be one of the most beautiful Ferrari models.

The first two copies of the 275 GTB / 4 NART Spyder have a body made of aluminum sheet, all later copies have a steel body. The steel version weighs 1100 kg, the cars with aluminum bodies are 50 kg lighter.

Performance

The maximum speed of the 275 GTB / 4 NART Spyder is given as 270 km / h. It is 35 km / h above that of the Ferrari factory convertible 330 GTS.

production

Carrozzeria Scaglietti took on the construction of the 275 GTB / 4 NART Spyder. Chinetti had commissioned a series of 25 vehicles, but had misjudged the interest in the car. Sales in the USA were very sluggish and could only be achieved with considerable discounts, so that production was stopped after ten copies. Luigi Chinetti sold nine vehicles through his representative in Connecticut , and one car was sold in Europe. It went to a general of the Legión Española .

Media presence

Luigi Chinetti managed to accommodate the 275 GTB / 4 NART Spyder as a prop in a feature film in 1968 . Steve McQueen drove the car in Thomas Crown is incredible .

Use in motorsport

Luigi Chinetti did not design the 275 GTB / 4 NART Spyder as a competition vehicle. Nonetheless, an example with an aluminum body appeared at the Sebring 12-hour race in 1967 . The two racing drivers Denise McCluggage and Pinkie Rollo brought the car, painted in a dark yellow and equipped with a roll bar, to the start for the Northern Vermont Racing Team in the class of grand turismo cars up to 5.0 liters displacement (GT5.0) . It was the only Ferrari that took part in this race. McCluggage and Rollo finished 17th in the race. They had completed 185 laps, 50 fewer than the first-placed Ford GT40 driven by Bruce McLaren and Mario Andretti . It was the only racing appearance of this model.

Current market situation

While the 275 GTB / 4 NART Spyder was not in demand at the time of its production, it is one of the most expensive road vehicles from Ferrari in the 21st century. In 2013, a late model with a steel body was sold in the US at a price of US $ 27.5 million.

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 .
  • The car models 1966/67 and 1968/69 (dates and price).

Web links

Commons : Ferrari 275 GTB / 4 NART Spyder  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d N.N .: Luigi Chinetti Junior tells the story of the Ferrari NART Spyder. www.classcdriver.com, April 22, 2016, accessed September 15, 2018 .
  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. 207.
  3. ↑ Alessandro Sannia: Enciclopedia dei carrozzieri italiani , Società Editrice Il Cammello, 2017, ISBN 978-8896796412 , p. 93.
  4. ^ A b 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. 72.
  5. ↑ a b c Thomas Lavin: Looking Back At The NART Spyder That Stole Our Hearts In Monterey. www.petrolicious.com, September 10, 2018, accessed September 15, 2018 .
  6. ^ A b 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. 141.
  7. ↑ Racing history of the Ferrari 275 GTB / 4 NART Spyder on the website www.racingsportscars.com (accessed on September 16, 2018).
  8. ↑ Results of the Sebring 12-hour race in 1967 on the website www.racingsportscars.com (accessed on September 16, 2018).