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Details
The ex-Scuderia, 1000kms of Monza and Spa-Francorchamps Winning 1966 FERRARI 330 P3
Chassis No. 0844
Engine No. 0844 (412 P3)
Ferrari racing red with black interior and red seats
Engine: V12, double overhead camshafts per bank, twin spark plug per cylinder, water-cooled, 3,967cc, 420bhp at 8,200rpm; Gearbox: ZF five-speed in unit with transaxle in 1966, replaced by Ferrari unit in early 1967; Chassis construction: tubular steel with aluminum sheet reinforcing (semi-monocoque); Suspension: front, upper and lower A-arms with coil spring/shock absorber units, rear, wide based lower wishbone, upper top link, twin radius arms per side with coil spring/shock absorber units; Brakes: Girling discs, outboard at the front and inboard at the rear. Right hand drive.
With Ferrari's 330 P3 #0844 we visit the very heart of Ferrari history at a time when its rear engined racing prototypes truly reached maturity, the result of half a decade of experience with that configuration. Motor racing's golden era between the years of 1964 and 1971 was the era of the no-holds barred big displacement sports-prototypes in World Championship sports car racing for the Manufacturers' Championship. It was the time of such legendary race cars as the Ford GT40, the Lola T70, the Ferrari 512S and M, the Porsche 917 and, perhaps the greatest of all, the Ferrari 'P' (for 'prototipo') series.
The P3 was a logical and comprehensive evolution of the P2 of 1965, itself a four liter mid-engined car, but of traditional 'space frame' chassis construction. For the P3 of 1966, Ferrari's engineers redrew the chassis, this time adding riveted-on aluminum panels to generate enhanced torsional rigidity. Furthermore the fiberglass underbody was bonded into the chassis. An all-new V12 engine using twin overhead camshafts was developed for this new P3 and fuel was no longer delivered via the long-used Weber twin or quadruple carburetors as had previously been seen on all of Ferrari's sports and sports-racing cars. In their place was the more efficient British Lucas indirect fuel injection. Another change was the switch from Marchal to Champion sparkplugs, no less than 24 of which were used for the double ignition, completed by two distributors and an impressive battery of 4 coils all by Marelli. Power was quoted as 420 horsepower at 8,200 rpm. The gearbox was a German ZF unit. The suspension featured wider tracks accomodating even wider wheels: 8.5 inches at the front and 9.5 at the rear, underlining the rapid advances in tire technology at the time. It was also, at 1,587lbs (720kgs), almost 220lbs (100kgs) lighter than its predecessor, 65lbs of which were saved on engine weight alone.
The P3 then received what is recognized as one of the most pure and beautiful bodies ever created for a competition Ferrari or for any motor car in fact, one that has been painted, sculpted and rendered in numerous forms by artists for over three decades. Built by Brazilian Piero Drogo's Carrozzeria Sports Cars in Modena, this was a smooth, all-enveloping Berlinetta with gracefully curving fenders, cooling intakes and slots. It was much lower than the P2, at 37.4in. As underlined by its wide tracks, flawless design and dramatically sloped and rounded windshield, it was a shape that had come into its maturity; so much so in fact that its succesor the P4 was almost undistinguishable to all but the most expert eyes. Its sheer timeless presence was matched by its efficiency.
Announced to the press on December 12, 1965, the first P3 was actually shown to journalists in February, 1966. 0846 was there with open spyder bodywork. Two months later 0844 made its debut on April 14, 1966 at Modena, looking almost identical in all respects except that the roof over the driver's head had not been removed. John Surtees conducted the testing of the new berlinetta in preparation for the forthcoming event at Monza.
Because of labor disputes in Italy, only three P3's were ever built, whereas 5 P2's were made the year before. 0846 in spyder configuration was readied to take part in the Sebring 12-hour race in Florida in March, 1966. Mike Parkes, Ferrari's chief development driver, shared the car with Bob Bondurant. Parkes led for most of his stint, but when handing the spyder over to Bondurant at the final stop, warned him of a weakening clutch. Alas, a few laps later, the spyder did grind to a halt with no drive to the rear wheels, but enough had been seen of Ferrari's new car to warn Ford that in this fresh new season of 1966, Ferrari was more than ever a contender for the Championship.
0844's first race outing was in the 1000 Kilometer race at Monza where Mike Parkes was partnered by John Surtees, in his return to competition after his severe 1965 crash in Mosport Canada. The pair led from start to finish in what was mostly a wet race. Their victory was dominant, but not without some windshield wiper troubles! During the race Surtees set a new lap record of 108.67mph and depite the weather its overall average speed was some 103.06mph. The Ford GT40's, especially in small block form, did not seem to have the power to beat the beautiful Ferrari.
At the Targa Florio, Ferrari's factory team entry, the singleton 0486 Spyder, was knocked out by an errant GTO whilst 0844 was readied for the infamous Spa-Francorchamps 1000 Kilometers, held on the ultra-fast eight mile long circuit in Belgium. Once again, Mike Parkes was slated to drive the big Ferrari; this time due to a date clash with the Monaco GP, Surtees was unavailable and 'Parkesi' was partnered by Lodovico Scarfiotti, the generally acknowledged Ferrari 'hillclimb' specialist. During the race Parkes set a new lap record at 139mph and despite facing a horde of Ford GT40's, 0844 trounced the opposition again, winning both races it had contested.
Both the Berlinetta and the Spyder were entered for the next race, that at the Nürburgring, Germany's fearsome fourteen and a half mile circuit which snakes through the Eifel forest, just forty miles from Spa-Francorchamps. In fact it was for purposes of evaluation and comparison that 0844 had been brought along with the spyder, 0846. During pre-race testing, John Surtees assessed both and his verdict to Ferrari's new team manager, Eugenio Dragoni, was that the spyder was the more efficient and practical of the two around the 'Ring. Dragoni withdrew the Berlinetta, leaving the Spyder to race in the hands of 'il grande' John with Mike Parkes. During the race it once again suffered clutch and gearbox trouble and was retired. Thankfully for Ferrari, the NART and SEFAC Ferrari Dinos finished second and third, letting Ferrari and Ford enter the Le Mans 24-Hour race on an absolutely even points score.
Le Mans 1966 was a battle of the Titans. Ford entered no less than eight of the seven-liter GT40 Mark II's. For the first time, three P3's were to be run, two of which were officially Nart entries, but for all intents and purposes were managed by SEFAC Ferrari, the factory team. 0844, 0846 and 0848 were entered. Also present were an assortment of 365 P2's, Dino Sp's and even a 250LM from Ecurie Belge. It turned out to be the quintessential David versus Goliath battle in motorsport history up to that point: Maranello's squad of 3 P3's paled with the industrial might of Detroit's eight 7 liter Fords, as did their 4 liter engine sizes, nearly half as big.
Furthermore unpleasant politics saw Ferrari's team shoot themselves in the foot just before the most important race of the year. Their fastest driver, John Surtees, found himself replaced by Lodovico Scarfiotti as lead driver by team manager Dragoni and walked out. (Scarfiotti was a family member of the Agnellis, Fiat's owners, and it may be no coincidence that Ferrari was courting Fiat for financial assistance during this period). Though this has never been officially admitted, it is widely believed that the fiercely nationalistic Dragoni had arranged some funding for Ferrari and therefore had a measure of control. 0844, wearing race number 21, was to be driven by Jean Guichet and Dragoni's favorite, Lorenzo Bandini.
Jean Guichet, the 1964 Le Mans winner, recalls his drive in 0844: When I drove it with Bandini at Le Mans I was under the impression that it wasn't really for Chinetti (as it was officially entered) but for Ferrari directly. I had exchanged telegrams with Mr. Ferrari so I am sure that it was in fact a factory car. I don't recall driving it before Le Mans. Bandini had pulled off a very good time in qualifying. During the race I had a big spin after the Dunlop curve, at the bottom of the hill when it began to drizzle. It was also the beginning of the night. I was lucky and just grazed one of the guardrails or earthbanks there with the back end and resumed. Well I was so annoyed at having spun that when I got onto the Mulsanne straight, just past that row of trees on the left at the beginning I gave it too much throttle and as the track was slick I had another huge spin. Somehow I stayed on track... Then because one of my rear round lights had been broken by the contact Ford went to the organizers and whined about it so I had to come in to get it changed. I guess we had them worried: in the first hours we ran really fast at 224kmh average speed. Then eventually the engine broke.
Le Mans that year saw the total rout of Ferrari. Ford GT40's took the top three slots. 0844 acquitted itself well, holding fifth position in the fifth hour. It lasted longer than its two siblings but dropped out with head gasket failure in the seventeenth hour.
Ferrari re-grouped for 1967. Forghieri developed the glorious P4, as noted previously a car looking very similar to the P3. Its shape, perhaps because it so perfectly combined efficiency and beauty, just could not be improved upon barring some detail differences which made it a faster car. The P3's had their bodies upgraded and their injection removed in favor of a simplified Weber carburetor set-up. Shortly after the season began, the P3/4's (now called '412P' by the factory) received new, Ferrari-designed gearboxes to replace the unsuitable and less reliable ZF units. Suspension modifications were carried out to allow even greater wheel widths.
0844 was sold to Luigi Chinetti's North American Racing Team for 1967. (The other two P3/4's plus two new cars were sold off to Ferrari's other Concessionaire Race teams). The first race was at Daytona and the new P4's dominated the race, coming in first and second. 0844, driven by Pedro Rodriguez and Jean Guichet, completed Ferrari's domination in third place. The Ford GT40's suffered gearbox failure, one after another. In perhaps the most recognized triumph in Ferrari history the three cars staged a formation finish which has since been depicted in numerous paintings and generated the 365GTB/4 berlinetta's unofficial nickname of Daytona.
Jean Guichet recalls the historic occasion: At Daytona when I raced it with Pedro Rodriguez the car was rather well worn and tired. I believe he took the start. We had some gearbox problems. I had also previously raced with Muller in the Targa Florio in another of these cars for Filipinetti the Swiss team and we had a number of gearbox problems with the ZF unit. Filipinetti himself then complained to Ferrari which directly contributed to the eventual replacement of the gearbox in these cars with a new in house unit.
Going back to Daytona, there were two incidents. First Pedro in a very rare event, burst both rear tires simultaneously! Also during the race, before or after that, I burst a front tire just in front of the pits so I had to drive all the way around the track with the burst tire, on three wheels, back to the pits. Then Pedro had a problem with the gearbox, got stranded and was unable to get a gear. So he got out, broke off a little bit of the armature which held the spare tire in place and he used this to jam the box in gear, without which he would not have been able to drive back to the pits. I don't remember which one of us was driving at the end. Obviously there was much rejoicing in the Ferrari pits afterwards because this was Ferrari's revenge on Ford after they had wrung Maranello's neck at Le Mans the previous year.
The Ferrari factory, quite content, did not bother to try and contest the Sebring 12-Hours, leaving that to be a Ford benefit with their new GT40's Mark IV, nor did Nart enter 0844 there. At Monza, the P4's triumphed again while 0844 shared by Jean Guichet and Pedro Rodriguez charged hard from the start. In fact Pedro eventually got the lead from Parkes's factory P4 thanks to the 412P's better fuel mileage and his blinding pace until the Mexican, trying too hard, went off at the first chicane and damaged the radiator too seriously to continue. Guichet recalls that 'At Monza it ended rather quickly with Pedro driving before my turn at the wheel.'
0844 was now prepared for the return match at Le Mans. There, she was race number 25 driven by Rodriguez and Giancarlo Baghetti. Even more than the year before, a huge crowd of over 300,000 spectators had come to witness the awe inspiring battle of the Maranello racing legend against the Ford armada. It is actually Rodriguez in 0844 who led the field at the start of this classic race, but the pace of the winning GT40 Mark IV of Dan Gurney and A.J. Foyt simply left all others gasping in their wake. 0844 after showing signs of strain was eventually retired in the eleventh hour with piston failure.
As in 1966 Ferrari had been overwhelmed by a rival with vastly superior means and an almost unfair advantage. The responsibility for the latter undoubtedly goes to the perennially short sighted CSI - now FIA - rules whose top category was vaguely described in the rule book as 'over 2 liters'. The CSI certainly never foresaw the potential arrival of Ford and Chaparral's seven liter engines from across the Atlantic, a dawn invading force from the west as unexpected as that which took place on the coastline northwest of Le Mans 21 years earlier. This rule was compounded by a second one, equally inane which granted larger fuel tanks, the larger the engine. There were clearly cobwebs in that rarely visited part of the rule book and this simple innocuous line of text made all the difference in favor of Ford's armada.
Still Ferrari had lost a battle but won the war. At the last race of the season, at Brands Hatch, while Chaparral won, the P4 of Chris Amon and Jackie Stewart barely beat a Porsche to give Ferrari victory in the Manufacturers' Championship by just one point, thanks to their second place! Thus 0844's third place at Daytona was a direct contribution to the title, illustrating how championships are often won by points acquired early in a season.
The CSI then finally and suddenly awoke. Shocked by the speed of the American 7 liter chargers, they now made the very abrupt decision to reduce the capacity of sports-prototypes to three liters and so 0844 was now, to all intents and purposes, obsolete. However, Can Am racing was proving to be extremely popular and so Chinetti wasted no time in returning 0844 to the factory where the car's bodywork was cut down into open 'spyder' shape; the engine was not modified but the opportunity was taken to replace all four uprights with P4, Tipo 603 castings.
Finished in late August, 0844 was flown to America and had its first Can Am race at Bridgehampton where it was driven by Scarfiotti into seventh place; just one week later, the P3/4 showed up again at Mosport where a bad start and a puncture ended Scarfiotti's run. Chinetti had now realized that four liters of European V12 stood no chance against seven liters of American V8 on either side of the Atlantic and retired the Ferrari from active competition.
RETIREMENT
After being in storage for four years, Chinetti sold 0844 in its Spyder form to Major William 'Bill' Cooper of Wisconsin.
Long time historic car dealer Harley Cluxton of Grand Touring Cars remembers: Bill Cooper bought the car from Chinetti in 1970, on September 12. He also bought engine 0844 and traded in engine 0838. He raced it at Road America. That was in 1971 I believe. I was there racing a 512. I remember how pretty the car was. I was behind Bill for a while. He used to race a lot in the SCCA, always bought his Ferraris from Chinetti and had some very nice cars.
Then I bought the car from Cooper on June 30, 1972, trading it for a 1971 Daytona (#14147 I believe) which I had received from Chinetti. At the time I was based in Chicago and had two factory mechanics on loan. They went through the car chassis-wise, wheel bearings, halfshafts, etc. and there was really nothing that needed to be done. It had just recently been painted by Bill Cooper. Otto Bowden an attorney from Florida bought it on the 10th of September, 1972.
0844 remained in Mr. Bowden's ownership for almost ten years. Bowden: I kept it in my garage but had very little time since I was still working so I never did anything with it. I never ran it on the track. Then as time went by I became concerned about humidity and porosity of magnesium parts: there were a number of pinhole leaks and I also had to replace two or three water hoses. Eventually I sold it back to Harley Cluxton.
The Grand Touring Car owner then gave the car a comprehensive restoration before selling it again to Mr. Walter Medlin of Kissimee, Florida.
Cluxton: I believe that he started it up once or twice and had the usual Buckingham fountain out of the magnesium water pump case and so I bought it back from him. Wayne Beckwith then rebuilt it for me, this was after I had moved to Phoenix. I then sold it to a very good friend, Walter Medlin. He sold a lot of land in central Florida to a corporation by the name of Walt Disney. His aim was to start a Ferrari museum in the Orlando area. He picked it up, took it back home to Florida to the abandoned movie house in which he kept his cars. Wayne had done such an incredible job as he always does on restoring these cars that you could literally lean into the car, just turn the ignition on, let the pumps run, push the key and the car would start right up.
When it arrived in Florida Walter wanted to really impress his lady friend so he pushed it off the trailer. He was so impressed and so happy because this was a car that really ran and was just absolutely perfect. As she came out of the house, he leaned over telling her to watch, turns on the ignition, the pumps run, he starts it...he forgot it was in gear and it promptly hit the wall! Thankfully it wasn't a hard hit; it wasn't much. He was so depressed after that that I don't think he did anything with it during those years. He had it from 1979 until 1994.
It was here again that year along with 0858. We rebuilt it for the big Laguna Seca Historics Ferrari gathering since the factory was very eager to have one there. I was to drive it, drove it in practice and Brian Redman was actually sitting on the pitwall watching me and I could not believe he was not out driving something. I came into the pits, asked him what he was doing and he said, 'Oh, I am just out watching: Ferrari had no car for me to drive'. So I offered him to drive it! He was surprised but happy and accepted. He came in fourth overall having started in the back and really loved the car and enjoyed himself.
In a field described as the most valuable ever raced, 0844 truly played the starring role. In starting from the back of the grid and finishing fourth, Brian beat two 512Ms and two 312 PBs. Afterwards, 0844 was returned to Harley Cluxton's shop to be cleaned, sorted and detailed and was then purchased by the Symbolic Motor Car Company of La Jolla, California in October, 1996.
0844 then enjoyed further time under the limelight as one of the honored cars at the 1997 fiftieth anniversary celebrations in Rome and Maranello. It was displayed at the capital's Stadio dei Marmeli on May 31 and thereafter, with seemingly all of Rome watching and waving enthusiastically, it took part in the Caracalla run on June 1 with Luigi Chinetti Junior at the wheel of the former NART entry. The latter then drove it on the road rally to the factory on June 3rd and in the ensuing events in and around Maranello and Modena.
In late 1997/early 1998 it was decided to return the glorious warrior to its original 330 P3 berlinetta configuration. It was not in fact the first such occurrence. Many years ago none other than the World's most respected Ferrari collection, that of the Mas du Clos, had restored its 330 P4 0860, also used in the Can Am series, from that open spyder shape back into its original 330 P4 spyder body configuration.
This clearly was a vast and ambitious undertaking that involved far more than the usual repaint. Rob Shanahan who was in charge of the process explains: We got some parts from [longtime British Ferrari privateer] David Piper; the roof panel is the old roof panel of his car, which we found in Scottsdale actually. Then the door, the window surrounds on the doors actually came from Piper. Those are parts from his original car, the roof of which he cut off. Then he provided us with a fiberglass copy of his car made back in 1966. He made us some extra thick body parts so that we could actually bend metal over them, like a mannequin or a buck in effect. We used 1 millimeter thick aluminum. Having these molds is what made it all possible: they were incredibly detailed, you could see the placement of every rivet, you could even see where stickers were placed, you could see the raised circle where the racing numbers had been; great information.
Then of course he just had a nose and a tail, we knew our doors were original, they hadn't been modified but we needed the roof panel and window surrounds. He had the window surrounds but not the roof: the latter turned out to be with a private individual in Scottsdale: they were painted the same BP green and matched perfectly with the window surrounds and it was marked 330 P3/4. So we were able to incorporate that into it. Now we had an original roof, tail and nose. The only thing we now needed was a glass windshield, which we had made. We had it molded and did a compound curve windshield which is a little difficult; usually all you can get is plastic since it is very difficult to get glass companies to deal with a one-off; most people do not wish to spend what it actually costs anyway.
There wasn't much work to do in the way the bodywork was anchored because they had originally just taken the original bodywork and quickly modified it to make the Can Am body. Then it was just a matter of aligning everything properly. The biggest difficulty was in getting all the little details right. For example the wire mesh screen for the vertical portion of the rear body had to be custom made because we could not find a screen that matched. That car's original screen had a different mesh, more closely woven than some of the other cars. There were a hundred little things like that we had to have made or make ourselves to get all the little details right.
Mechanically we also went through the suspension and brakes, while the engine and transmission had already been done by Harley Cluxton. We had to re-do the interior. We restored the dashboard and all the instruments; they were all there. The only thing that wasn't there is that silly little ventilation vent right in the middle of the dashboard. We could not figure out where that came from. Finally it turned out that the part originally used by the factory came from a Renault R8! This was the first time I have run into a Renault part on a Ferrari. Finally we got hold of one, which wasn't easy in the US!
The whole process took less than six months, from decision to completion.
After decades hidden away in darkness the P3 would now embark on a series of shows on two continents, to the delight of countless smitten tifosi. Noted Japanese collector Hayashi then purchased 0844 in 1998. Shortly before its flight to Japan it was displayed at Concorso Italiano in August of that year. This was the first time it was seen as a berlinetta since 1967. After it crossed the Pacific, Hayashi enjoyed it at the Ferrari Club of Japan 10th anniversary celebration at Suzuka on June 5-6 1999 where it was run on the Grand Prix circuit. That same weekend it was also displayed in the FCJ's Concours in which it scored a perfect 400 points, just edging out a 312PB, also owned by Hayashi, for class 3 honors. Despite the presence of several Ferrari GP cars and an incredible array of major machinery, it unquestionably stole the show.
In 1999 it once again returned to the US and was bought by the current east coast collector. Ironically it then took part in four events in Florida, the very State in which it had spent almost 25 years in a time warp. It was displayed and briefly run at the Homestead Ferrari millennium race near Miami in early December of 1999, and then shown at the concours of the Cavallino Classic IX in Palm Beach Florida on January 22nd, 2000. It was later run in Brian Redman's Targa 66 event at Moroso Motorsports Park in February and finally displayed again at Homestead in April on the occasion of the inaugural North American Ferrari 360 Modena challenge race.
As one of only three 330 P3's, one of the most revered racing cars of all time, as a true factory prototype, victorious in the 1000kms races of Monza and Spa along with its third place finish in the famous Daytona 67 triumph, #0844 will forever belong in the pantheon of Ferrari history. Rarefied icons such as this tend to be sold not at auction, but very much by private sale from one cognoscenti to another, the latter having sometimes courted the former to that end for over a decade. Thus Christie's is proud to present a very rare opportunity to bypass that process and acquire what is arguably the most important motor car to come to auction in the millennium. In fact occasions when a car of this significance is sold are so thin on the ground that the World of classic cars stops and takes notice.
Chassis No. 0844
Engine No. 0844 (412 P3)
Ferrari racing red with black interior and red seats
Engine: V12, double overhead camshafts per bank, twin spark plug per cylinder, water-cooled, 3,967cc, 420bhp at 8,200rpm; Gearbox: ZF five-speed in unit with transaxle in 1966, replaced by Ferrari unit in early 1967; Chassis construction: tubular steel with aluminum sheet reinforcing (semi-monocoque); Suspension: front, upper and lower A-arms with coil spring/shock absorber units, rear, wide based lower wishbone, upper top link, twin radius arms per side with coil spring/shock absorber units; Brakes: Girling discs, outboard at the front and inboard at the rear. Right hand drive.
With Ferrari's 330 P3 #0844 we visit the very heart of Ferrari history at a time when its rear engined racing prototypes truly reached maturity, the result of half a decade of experience with that configuration. Motor racing's golden era between the years of 1964 and 1971 was the era of the no-holds barred big displacement sports-prototypes in World Championship sports car racing for the Manufacturers' Championship. It was the time of such legendary race cars as the Ford GT40, the Lola T70, the Ferrari 512S and M, the Porsche 917 and, perhaps the greatest of all, the Ferrari 'P' (for 'prototipo') series.
The P3 was a logical and comprehensive evolution of the P2 of 1965, itself a four liter mid-engined car, but of traditional 'space frame' chassis construction. For the P3 of 1966, Ferrari's engineers redrew the chassis, this time adding riveted-on aluminum panels to generate enhanced torsional rigidity. Furthermore the fiberglass underbody was bonded into the chassis. An all-new V12 engine using twin overhead camshafts was developed for this new P3 and fuel was no longer delivered via the long-used Weber twin or quadruple carburetors as had previously been seen on all of Ferrari's sports and sports-racing cars. In their place was the more efficient British Lucas indirect fuel injection. Another change was the switch from Marchal to Champion sparkplugs, no less than 24 of which were used for the double ignition, completed by two distributors and an impressive battery of 4 coils all by Marelli. Power was quoted as 420 horsepower at 8,200 rpm. The gearbox was a German ZF unit. The suspension featured wider tracks accomodating even wider wheels: 8.5 inches at the front and 9.5 at the rear, underlining the rapid advances in tire technology at the time. It was also, at 1,587lbs (720kgs), almost 220lbs (100kgs) lighter than its predecessor, 65lbs of which were saved on engine weight alone.
The P3 then received what is recognized as one of the most pure and beautiful bodies ever created for a competition Ferrari or for any motor car in fact, one that has been painted, sculpted and rendered in numerous forms by artists for over three decades. Built by Brazilian Piero Drogo's Carrozzeria Sports Cars in Modena, this was a smooth, all-enveloping Berlinetta with gracefully curving fenders, cooling intakes and slots. It was much lower than the P2, at 37.4in. As underlined by its wide tracks, flawless design and dramatically sloped and rounded windshield, it was a shape that had come into its maturity; so much so in fact that its succesor the P4 was almost undistinguishable to all but the most expert eyes. Its sheer timeless presence was matched by its efficiency.
Announced to the press on December 12, 1965, the first P3 was actually shown to journalists in February, 1966. 0846 was there with open spyder bodywork. Two months later 0844 made its debut on April 14, 1966 at Modena, looking almost identical in all respects except that the roof over the driver's head had not been removed. John Surtees conducted the testing of the new berlinetta in preparation for the forthcoming event at Monza.
Because of labor disputes in Italy, only three P3's were ever built, whereas 5 P2's were made the year before. 0846 in spyder configuration was readied to take part in the Sebring 12-hour race in Florida in March, 1966. Mike Parkes, Ferrari's chief development driver, shared the car with Bob Bondurant. Parkes led for most of his stint, but when handing the spyder over to Bondurant at the final stop, warned him of a weakening clutch. Alas, a few laps later, the spyder did grind to a halt with no drive to the rear wheels, but enough had been seen of Ferrari's new car to warn Ford that in this fresh new season of 1966, Ferrari was more than ever a contender for the Championship.
0844's first race outing was in the 1000 Kilometer race at Monza where Mike Parkes was partnered by John Surtees, in his return to competition after his severe 1965 crash in Mosport Canada. The pair led from start to finish in what was mostly a wet race. Their victory was dominant, but not without some windshield wiper troubles! During the race Surtees set a new lap record of 108.67mph and depite the weather its overall average speed was some 103.06mph. The Ford GT40's, especially in small block form, did not seem to have the power to beat the beautiful Ferrari.
At the Targa Florio, Ferrari's factory team entry, the singleton 0486 Spyder, was knocked out by an errant GTO whilst 0844 was readied for the infamous Spa-Francorchamps 1000 Kilometers, held on the ultra-fast eight mile long circuit in Belgium. Once again, Mike Parkes was slated to drive the big Ferrari; this time due to a date clash with the Monaco GP, Surtees was unavailable and 'Parkesi' was partnered by Lodovico Scarfiotti, the generally acknowledged Ferrari 'hillclimb' specialist. During the race Parkes set a new lap record at 139mph and despite facing a horde of Ford GT40's, 0844 trounced the opposition again, winning both races it had contested.
Both the Berlinetta and the Spyder were entered for the next race, that at the Nürburgring, Germany's fearsome fourteen and a half mile circuit which snakes through the Eifel forest, just forty miles from Spa-Francorchamps. In fact it was for purposes of evaluation and comparison that 0844 had been brought along with the spyder, 0846. During pre-race testing, John Surtees assessed both and his verdict to Ferrari's new team manager, Eugenio Dragoni, was that the spyder was the more efficient and practical of the two around the 'Ring. Dragoni withdrew the Berlinetta, leaving the Spyder to race in the hands of 'il grande' John with Mike Parkes. During the race it once again suffered clutch and gearbox trouble and was retired. Thankfully for Ferrari, the NART and SEFAC Ferrari Dinos finished second and third, letting Ferrari and Ford enter the Le Mans 24-Hour race on an absolutely even points score.
Le Mans 1966 was a battle of the Titans. Ford entered no less than eight of the seven-liter GT40 Mark II's. For the first time, three P3's were to be run, two of which were officially Nart entries, but for all intents and purposes were managed by SEFAC Ferrari, the factory team. 0844, 0846 and 0848 were entered. Also present were an assortment of 365 P2's, Dino Sp's and even a 250LM from Ecurie Belge. It turned out to be the quintessential David versus Goliath battle in motorsport history up to that point: Maranello's squad of 3 P3's paled with the industrial might of Detroit's eight 7 liter Fords, as did their 4 liter engine sizes, nearly half as big.
Furthermore unpleasant politics saw Ferrari's team shoot themselves in the foot just before the most important race of the year. Their fastest driver, John Surtees, found himself replaced by Lodovico Scarfiotti as lead driver by team manager Dragoni and walked out. (Scarfiotti was a family member of the Agnellis, Fiat's owners, and it may be no coincidence that Ferrari was courting Fiat for financial assistance during this period). Though this has never been officially admitted, it is widely believed that the fiercely nationalistic Dragoni had arranged some funding for Ferrari and therefore had a measure of control. 0844, wearing race number 21, was to be driven by Jean Guichet and Dragoni's favorite, Lorenzo Bandini.
Jean Guichet, the 1964 Le Mans winner, recalls his drive in 0844: When I drove it with Bandini at Le Mans I was under the impression that it wasn't really for Chinetti (as it was officially entered) but for Ferrari directly. I had exchanged telegrams with Mr. Ferrari so I am sure that it was in fact a factory car. I don't recall driving it before Le Mans. Bandini had pulled off a very good time in qualifying. During the race I had a big spin after the Dunlop curve, at the bottom of the hill when it began to drizzle. It was also the beginning of the night. I was lucky and just grazed one of the guardrails or earthbanks there with the back end and resumed. Well I was so annoyed at having spun that when I got onto the Mulsanne straight, just past that row of trees on the left at the beginning I gave it too much throttle and as the track was slick I had another huge spin. Somehow I stayed on track... Then because one of my rear round lights had been broken by the contact Ford went to the organizers and whined about it so I had to come in to get it changed. I guess we had them worried: in the first hours we ran really fast at 224kmh average speed. Then eventually the engine broke.
Le Mans that year saw the total rout of Ferrari. Ford GT40's took the top three slots. 0844 acquitted itself well, holding fifth position in the fifth hour. It lasted longer than its two siblings but dropped out with head gasket failure in the seventeenth hour.
Ferrari re-grouped for 1967. Forghieri developed the glorious P4, as noted previously a car looking very similar to the P3. Its shape, perhaps because it so perfectly combined efficiency and beauty, just could not be improved upon barring some detail differences which made it a faster car. The P3's had their bodies upgraded and their injection removed in favor of a simplified Weber carburetor set-up. Shortly after the season began, the P3/4's (now called '412P' by the factory) received new, Ferrari-designed gearboxes to replace the unsuitable and less reliable ZF units. Suspension modifications were carried out to allow even greater wheel widths.
0844 was sold to Luigi Chinetti's North American Racing Team for 1967. (The other two P3/4's plus two new cars were sold off to Ferrari's other Concessionaire Race teams). The first race was at Daytona and the new P4's dominated the race, coming in first and second. 0844, driven by Pedro Rodriguez and Jean Guichet, completed Ferrari's domination in third place. The Ford GT40's suffered gearbox failure, one after another. In perhaps the most recognized triumph in Ferrari history the three cars staged a formation finish which has since been depicted in numerous paintings and generated the 365GTB/4 berlinetta's unofficial nickname of Daytona.
Jean Guichet recalls the historic occasion: At Daytona when I raced it with Pedro Rodriguez the car was rather well worn and tired. I believe he took the start. We had some gearbox problems. I had also previously raced with Muller in the Targa Florio in another of these cars for Filipinetti the Swiss team and we had a number of gearbox problems with the ZF unit. Filipinetti himself then complained to Ferrari which directly contributed to the eventual replacement of the gearbox in these cars with a new in house unit.
Going back to Daytona, there were two incidents. First Pedro in a very rare event, burst both rear tires simultaneously! Also during the race, before or after that, I burst a front tire just in front of the pits so I had to drive all the way around the track with the burst tire, on three wheels, back to the pits. Then Pedro had a problem with the gearbox, got stranded and was unable to get a gear. So he got out, broke off a little bit of the armature which held the spare tire in place and he used this to jam the box in gear, without which he would not have been able to drive back to the pits. I don't remember which one of us was driving at the end. Obviously there was much rejoicing in the Ferrari pits afterwards because this was Ferrari's revenge on Ford after they had wrung Maranello's neck at Le Mans the previous year.
The Ferrari factory, quite content, did not bother to try and contest the Sebring 12-Hours, leaving that to be a Ford benefit with their new GT40's Mark IV, nor did Nart enter 0844 there. At Monza, the P4's triumphed again while 0844 shared by Jean Guichet and Pedro Rodriguez charged hard from the start. In fact Pedro eventually got the lead from Parkes's factory P4 thanks to the 412P's better fuel mileage and his blinding pace until the Mexican, trying too hard, went off at the first chicane and damaged the radiator too seriously to continue. Guichet recalls that 'At Monza it ended rather quickly with Pedro driving before my turn at the wheel.'
0844 was now prepared for the return match at Le Mans. There, she was race number 25 driven by Rodriguez and Giancarlo Baghetti. Even more than the year before, a huge crowd of over 300,000 spectators had come to witness the awe inspiring battle of the Maranello racing legend against the Ford armada. It is actually Rodriguez in 0844 who led the field at the start of this classic race, but the pace of the winning GT40 Mark IV of Dan Gurney and A.J. Foyt simply left all others gasping in their wake. 0844 after showing signs of strain was eventually retired in the eleventh hour with piston failure.
As in 1966 Ferrari had been overwhelmed by a rival with vastly superior means and an almost unfair advantage. The responsibility for the latter undoubtedly goes to the perennially short sighted CSI - now FIA - rules whose top category was vaguely described in the rule book as 'over 2 liters'. The CSI certainly never foresaw the potential arrival of Ford and Chaparral's seven liter engines from across the Atlantic, a dawn invading force from the west as unexpected as that which took place on the coastline northwest of Le Mans 21 years earlier. This rule was compounded by a second one, equally inane which granted larger fuel tanks, the larger the engine. There were clearly cobwebs in that rarely visited part of the rule book and this simple innocuous line of text made all the difference in favor of Ford's armada.
Still Ferrari had lost a battle but won the war. At the last race of the season, at Brands Hatch, while Chaparral won, the P4 of Chris Amon and Jackie Stewart barely beat a Porsche to give Ferrari victory in the Manufacturers' Championship by just one point, thanks to their second place! Thus 0844's third place at Daytona was a direct contribution to the title, illustrating how championships are often won by points acquired early in a season.
The CSI then finally and suddenly awoke. Shocked by the speed of the American 7 liter chargers, they now made the very abrupt decision to reduce the capacity of sports-prototypes to three liters and so 0844 was now, to all intents and purposes, obsolete. However, Can Am racing was proving to be extremely popular and so Chinetti wasted no time in returning 0844 to the factory where the car's bodywork was cut down into open 'spyder' shape; the engine was not modified but the opportunity was taken to replace all four uprights with P4, Tipo 603 castings.
Finished in late August, 0844 was flown to America and had its first Can Am race at Bridgehampton where it was driven by Scarfiotti into seventh place; just one week later, the P3/4 showed up again at Mosport where a bad start and a puncture ended Scarfiotti's run. Chinetti had now realized that four liters of European V12 stood no chance against seven liters of American V8 on either side of the Atlantic and retired the Ferrari from active competition.
RETIREMENT
After being in storage for four years, Chinetti sold 0844 in its Spyder form to Major William 'Bill' Cooper of Wisconsin.
Long time historic car dealer Harley Cluxton of Grand Touring Cars remembers: Bill Cooper bought the car from Chinetti in 1970, on September 12. He also bought engine 0844 and traded in engine 0838. He raced it at Road America. That was in 1971 I believe. I was there racing a 512. I remember how pretty the car was. I was behind Bill for a while. He used to race a lot in the SCCA, always bought his Ferraris from Chinetti and had some very nice cars.
Then I bought the car from Cooper on June 30, 1972, trading it for a 1971 Daytona (#14147 I believe) which I had received from Chinetti. At the time I was based in Chicago and had two factory mechanics on loan. They went through the car chassis-wise, wheel bearings, halfshafts, etc. and there was really nothing that needed to be done. It had just recently been painted by Bill Cooper. Otto Bowden an attorney from Florida bought it on the 10th of September, 1972.
0844 remained in Mr. Bowden's ownership for almost ten years. Bowden: I kept it in my garage but had very little time since I was still working so I never did anything with it. I never ran it on the track. Then as time went by I became concerned about humidity and porosity of magnesium parts: there were a number of pinhole leaks and I also had to replace two or three water hoses. Eventually I sold it back to Harley Cluxton.
The Grand Touring Car owner then gave the car a comprehensive restoration before selling it again to Mr. Walter Medlin of Kissimee, Florida.
Cluxton: I believe that he started it up once or twice and had the usual Buckingham fountain out of the magnesium water pump case and so I bought it back from him. Wayne Beckwith then rebuilt it for me, this was after I had moved to Phoenix. I then sold it to a very good friend, Walter Medlin. He sold a lot of land in central Florida to a corporation by the name of Walt Disney. His aim was to start a Ferrari museum in the Orlando area. He picked it up, took it back home to Florida to the abandoned movie house in which he kept his cars. Wayne had done such an incredible job as he always does on restoring these cars that you could literally lean into the car, just turn the ignition on, let the pumps run, push the key and the car would start right up.
When it arrived in Florida Walter wanted to really impress his lady friend so he pushed it off the trailer. He was so impressed and so happy because this was a car that really ran and was just absolutely perfect. As she came out of the house, he leaned over telling her to watch, turns on the ignition, the pumps run, he starts it...he forgot it was in gear and it promptly hit the wall! Thankfully it wasn't a hard hit; it wasn't much. He was so depressed after that that I don't think he did anything with it during those years. He had it from 1979 until 1994.
It was here again that year along with 0858. We rebuilt it for the big Laguna Seca Historics Ferrari gathering since the factory was very eager to have one there. I was to drive it, drove it in practice and Brian Redman was actually sitting on the pitwall watching me and I could not believe he was not out driving something. I came into the pits, asked him what he was doing and he said, 'Oh, I am just out watching: Ferrari had no car for me to drive'. So I offered him to drive it! He was surprised but happy and accepted. He came in fourth overall having started in the back and really loved the car and enjoyed himself.
In a field described as the most valuable ever raced, 0844 truly played the starring role. In starting from the back of the grid and finishing fourth, Brian beat two 512Ms and two 312 PBs. Afterwards, 0844 was returned to Harley Cluxton's shop to be cleaned, sorted and detailed and was then purchased by the Symbolic Motor Car Company of La Jolla, California in October, 1996.
0844 then enjoyed further time under the limelight as one of the honored cars at the 1997 fiftieth anniversary celebrations in Rome and Maranello. It was displayed at the capital's Stadio dei Marmeli on May 31 and thereafter, with seemingly all of Rome watching and waving enthusiastically, it took part in the Caracalla run on June 1 with Luigi Chinetti Junior at the wheel of the former NART entry. The latter then drove it on the road rally to the factory on June 3rd and in the ensuing events in and around Maranello and Modena.
In late 1997/early 1998 it was decided to return the glorious warrior to its original 330 P3 berlinetta configuration. It was not in fact the first such occurrence. Many years ago none other than the World's most respected Ferrari collection, that of the Mas du Clos, had restored its 330 P4 0860, also used in the Can Am series, from that open spyder shape back into its original 330 P4 spyder body configuration.
This clearly was a vast and ambitious undertaking that involved far more than the usual repaint. Rob Shanahan who was in charge of the process explains: We got some parts from [longtime British Ferrari privateer] David Piper; the roof panel is the old roof panel of his car, which we found in Scottsdale actually. Then the door, the window surrounds on the doors actually came from Piper. Those are parts from his original car, the roof of which he cut off. Then he provided us with a fiberglass copy of his car made back in 1966. He made us some extra thick body parts so that we could actually bend metal over them, like a mannequin or a buck in effect. We used 1 millimeter thick aluminum. Having these molds is what made it all possible: they were incredibly detailed, you could see the placement of every rivet, you could even see where stickers were placed, you could see the raised circle where the racing numbers had been; great information.
Then of course he just had a nose and a tail, we knew our doors were original, they hadn't been modified but we needed the roof panel and window surrounds. He had the window surrounds but not the roof: the latter turned out to be with a private individual in Scottsdale: they were painted the same BP green and matched perfectly with the window surrounds and it was marked 330 P3/4. So we were able to incorporate that into it. Now we had an original roof, tail and nose. The only thing we now needed was a glass windshield, which we had made. We had it molded and did a compound curve windshield which is a little difficult; usually all you can get is plastic since it is very difficult to get glass companies to deal with a one-off; most people do not wish to spend what it actually costs anyway.
There wasn't much work to do in the way the bodywork was anchored because they had originally just taken the original bodywork and quickly modified it to make the Can Am body. Then it was just a matter of aligning everything properly. The biggest difficulty was in getting all the little details right. For example the wire mesh screen for the vertical portion of the rear body had to be custom made because we could not find a screen that matched. That car's original screen had a different mesh, more closely woven than some of the other cars. There were a hundred little things like that we had to have made or make ourselves to get all the little details right.
Mechanically we also went through the suspension and brakes, while the engine and transmission had already been done by Harley Cluxton. We had to re-do the interior. We restored the dashboard and all the instruments; they were all there. The only thing that wasn't there is that silly little ventilation vent right in the middle of the dashboard. We could not figure out where that came from. Finally it turned out that the part originally used by the factory came from a Renault R8! This was the first time I have run into a Renault part on a Ferrari. Finally we got hold of one, which wasn't easy in the US!
The whole process took less than six months, from decision to completion.
After decades hidden away in darkness the P3 would now embark on a series of shows on two continents, to the delight of countless smitten tifosi. Noted Japanese collector Hayashi then purchased 0844 in 1998. Shortly before its flight to Japan it was displayed at Concorso Italiano in August of that year. This was the first time it was seen as a berlinetta since 1967. After it crossed the Pacific, Hayashi enjoyed it at the Ferrari Club of Japan 10th anniversary celebration at Suzuka on June 5-6 1999 where it was run on the Grand Prix circuit. That same weekend it was also displayed in the FCJ's Concours in which it scored a perfect 400 points, just edging out a 312PB, also owned by Hayashi, for class 3 honors. Despite the presence of several Ferrari GP cars and an incredible array of major machinery, it unquestionably stole the show.
In 1999 it once again returned to the US and was bought by the current east coast collector. Ironically it then took part in four events in Florida, the very State in which it had spent almost 25 years in a time warp. It was displayed and briefly run at the Homestead Ferrari millennium race near Miami in early December of 1999, and then shown at the concours of the Cavallino Classic IX in Palm Beach Florida on January 22nd, 2000. It was later run in Brian Redman's Targa 66 event at Moroso Motorsports Park in February and finally displayed again at Homestead in April on the occasion of the inaugural North American Ferrari 360 Modena challenge race.
As one of only three 330 P3's, one of the most revered racing cars of all time, as a true factory prototype, victorious in the 1000kms races of Monza and Spa along with its third place finish in the famous Daytona 67 triumph, #0844 will forever belong in the pantheon of Ferrari history. Rarefied icons such as this tend to be sold not at auction, but very much by private sale from one cognoscenti to another, the latter having sometimes courted the former to that end for over a decade. Thus Christie's is proud to present a very rare opportunity to bypass that process and acquire what is arguably the most important motor car to come to auction in the millennium. In fact occasions when a car of this significance is sold are so thin on the ground that the World of classic cars stops and takes notice.