John McCaw from Seattle brought two exceptional cars to Pebble Beach. The first one, a rare Aston Martin DBR 1,
won the Strother MacMinn Trophy for the most elegant sports car at this year’s Concours and the second one, a
Ferrari 250 GT SWB Competizione Berlinetta (s/n 2417GT) took the third place in class M-1 (Ferrari Competition).
This ex-works racer was driven to victory by Willy Mairesse in the 1961 Spa GT race and later that year came home
on the 5th OA place at the Nuerburgring 1000km.
ATS 2.5 Allemano Coupe
One of only 6 ATS Allemano Coupes produced, this Bruce S. Milner entry won its class N and in my eyes it should
have won ”Best of Show”. ATS (Automobili Turismo e Sport) was founded by Count Volpi di Misurata, Jamie Ortiz
Patino and Giorgio Bill in 1961. They engaged Ing. Carlo Chiti, Girolami Gardini and Romolo Tavoni which all looked
for new jobs since an argument with Enzo Ferrari.
The first ATS cars Carlo Chiti built as chief engineer, were monoposti for the Formula 1. Unfortunately, the cars were
a fiasco. Then ATS built a special GT coupé, which was shown to the press at the Geneva Salon in March 1963. It
was a beautiful car with a body designed by Allemano. The engine was a V8 with a capacity of 2467 cc and a
strength of 210 hp.
Although it was a very ambitious project they failed to sell it and so only six chassis were completed ever.
Mercedes display
Mercedes-Benz celebrated their 100 year anniversary with an unique display of milestones of automobile history.
The spirit of the silver arrows was relived with cars like the world famous 300 SLR GP car, a W196 GP car, a W 125
etc. etc…
And what else as an Mercedes could win ”Best of Show” this year ? But Arturo & Deborah Keller’s sensational black
SS Erdmann & Rossi Roadster truly deserved it.
Ferrari Competition class M-1
Unfortunately the Ferrari 250 GTO’64 (s/n 5575GT), owned by Carlos Hank from Mexico couldn’t be found under the
Ferrari Competition class grid but this was the only ”no show”. Rumours had it that due to his father’s death he
withdrew this entry.
Jon Shirley’s fantastic 290 MM Scaglietti Spider (s/n 0628) won its class not very surprisingly. Freshly restored it
represents now exactly the bodywork configuration it had when it ran for the Scuderia Ferrari in 1956. Bruce
Lustman’s now blue painted ex-Briggs Cunningham 166/195 S Touring Le Mans Berlinetta (s/n 0060M) was judged
on second place followed by the 250 GT SWB mentioned above.
My personal favourite this year was John & Heather Mozart’s 250 GTO (s/n 3909GT) which looked just perfect with its
silver paint. In contrast to all these restored beauties, Victor Muller showed up with an unrestored race-battled 500
Mondial Scaglietti Spider (s/n 0564MD). He acquired this car just two weeks before from Danny Sielecki.
Complete entry list
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