The Racer’s Choice
Lightweight Fifties Ferrari that has form to match its beauty
Track-prepared lightweight Ferrari 250GT Boano heads to auction
Some cars just have it all – looks, rarity, condition, and a long and detailed race history that includes period race exploits and ownership by successful drivers and a rock star. That’s the quick way to sum up this 1956 Ferrari 250GT Boano, anyway, and it’s being offered by RM Sotheby’s in Arizona on 22 January.
Faced by its usual body-maker Pinin Farina temporarily being too busy building a larger factory to come up with the goods, Ferrari turned to the newly formed coachbuilding company of former Ghia chief Mario Boano. The deal lasted around a year, before Boano went off to set up Fiat’s central styling office. During that time 80 Boano coupés were built, mostly with steel bodies. However, 14 of them were clad in lightweight aluminium, and this car, chassis 0613 GT, is one of them.
Understandably these cars were popular for competition use and its first three owners were racers: George Arents, who ran it at Marlboro Speedway in Maryland, then Bob Grossman who would later be a class winner at Le Mans, albeit though not in this car. He in turn sold it to his friend Len Potter and they both raced the car in various events at the 1958 Bahamas Speed Week, recording both a podium finish and a class win.
From the early Sixties to the mid-eighties the Ferrari resided in the UK, passing through various hands including those of Cream’s bass-guitarist Jack Bruce, a renowned Ferrari enthusiast. It was then restored by DK Engineering before being sold to a Japanese collector in 1986. Returning to America in 2002, the GT was prepared for both concours events (it achieved a Gold Award) and use in the Colorado Grand and California Mille road events, hence
its upholstered roll-bars and four-point race harnesses – all very much in-keeping with its early competition history.
Now graced with the inevitable Ferrari Classiche certification, 0613 GT has managed to retain all its original running gear, and though the two-tone paint scheme isn’t original, it is close to how it was repainted by Potter in 1958 and presents superbly. The next owner won’t want for invitations to top events.
But what might that owner have to pay? At the time of writing RM Sotheby’s has yet to assign an estimate, and these alloy-bodied Boanos are too rarefied for most price guides. But it will obviously be well north of the £675,000 you’d expect to pay for a steelbodied version in similar condition. Factor in the history and even in the current market you are almost certainly looking at a sale price in the region of £1m-£1.2m. See rmsothebys.com
‘It was prepared with upholstered rollbars and four-point race harnesses, all very much in-keeping with its early competition history’