Sunday, April 8, 2001

Europe’s largest indoor classic gathering with a large number of dealer and club stands drawn from all parts of the continent and beyond. The central feature this year was a ”Tour of the Concours”, featuring facades of some of the major world concours venues, including the Villa d’Este. The show was held  at the Messe Essen between 5 – 8 April.

Ferrari staring
Ferrari 340 America Ghia Coupe s/n 0148A
Ferrari 500 Mondial PF Berlinetta s/n 0422MD
Ferrari 500 Mondial PF Spider s/n 0438MD
Ferrari 250 GT LWB Boano Coupe – rebuilt as California Spider s/n 0627GT
Ferrari 250 GT PF Cab. S.1 s/n 0737GT
Ferrari 250 GT SWB s/n 3401GT
Ferrari 250 GT PF Cab. SII s/n 3517GT
Ferrari 250 GTO s/n 3809GT
Ferrari 250 GT/L s/n 4635GT

Breathtaking was the total amount of particular Ferraris exhibited at this years issue of the world-biggest vintage car show – the Techno Classica in Essen, Germany.

Klaus Werner offered an early Mondial Pinin Farina Spider – chassis 0438 MD – which was sold new to well-known John von Neumann in 1954 who raced it very extensively through the 50’s. In 1956 the 500 Mondial was converted to 3 litre specs and later got the 750 Monza engine 0538 M installed. Since 1998 this car resides in Germany and could be seen last at the Trofeo Baleares in March 2001 with its then owner Hans-Juergen Phiesel from Bad Muenstereifel.

Not less interesting was a dark blue beauty displayed by La Galerie des Damiers from France – a 340 America Ghia Coupe s/n 0148 A – restored to perfection. Poulain Le Fur tried to auction this car at the Palais Congrés sale in December last year but had no luck in selling.

Behind La Galerie des Damiers’ stand Axel Schuette presented an impressing Ferrari-display. Besides the freshly repaired (from its Oldtimer GP incident in 2000) Ferrari 250 GT ‘SWB’ s/n 3401 GT he offered a 250 GT PF Cabriolet Series One s/n 0737 GT which came directly from the States and looked fantastic in its dark aubergine colour. Asking price is $950.000 !

Coys of Kensington displayed two Ferraris once or still owned by Lothar Roder of Germany. Surprisingly chassis 0627 GT is now painted in shining silver after a minor restoration. The second Ferrari, a 250 GT Lusso s/n 4635 GT, crashed heavily during the Ferrari 50th year anniversary, was recently bought by Roder at the 2000 Gstaad Brooks Auction and is now offered again.

Hartmut Ibings 250 GTO s/n 3809 GT could be admired in hall 6 where the Techno Classica organizers managed to gather a dozen of Concours d’Elegance winning cars.

Athané from Paris shared the stand in hall 2 with MMC and showed a nice 250 GT PF Cabriolet Series Two s/n 3517 GT together with a bad 250 TR Replica based on chassis s/n 3181 GT and a red/black ’Daytona’ with s/n 16419.

The most important Ferrari at the Techno Classica though not displayed but offered only on paper was the Ferrari 500 Mondial PF Berlinetta s/n 0422 MD, one of only two built in total !

Most interesting on this car is that its actual owner – a Mr. Piget from south of France – promised that he never would sell his Ferrari and that he would take this car with him in his grave !
So, who’s the vendor and what happened to Mr. Piget ? First question can be answered easily:
Red Willow Racing from the Netherlands offered 0422 MD but I had no possibility yet to clear up Mr. Piget’s fate but I’m sure time will tell us if he’s still alive or what car exactly Red Willow Racing is offering at the moment.

We’ll see.

A fantastic insight in Maseratis pre-war competition era could be seen at the world famous Techno Classica, which was held from 05th of April to 08th of April 2001 in Essen, Germany. From a stunning - freshly restored – Maserati  4 CS-1100 built in 1932 to the gorgeous compressor 8 CLT/50 from 1950 - Maserati race cars were the biggest attraction this year !

Maserati 4 CS-1100 s/n 1114
Swiss Premium Vintage car dealer Lukas Hueni exhibited the cream painted 4 CS beauty, chassis 1114, which was restored over 20 years by specialist Tony Merrick. In 1932, this car with one-off bodywork built by Brianza was introduced at the Milan Auto Show and later sold to Giuseppe Gilera and Count Castelbarco. Due to racing ambitions of 1114’s owner the Sports Car body didn’t survive long on the little race car chassis and was replaced by a single seater body in the 30’s. Today, 1114 again wears a bodywork which looks perfectly like the original Brianza style body. This job was done by Nick Jarvis, who only had some photos from the Biscaretti archive to orientate. Well done.

Maserati 8 CM s/n 3013
Another Maserati highlight was the dark blue painted 8 CM s/n 3013 which is currently offered by Axel Schuette from Oerlinghausen, Germany. Last owned by well known Maserati collector Dr. Thomas Bscher who acquired this car in 1987 from David Black, chassis 3013 was sold new to Earl Howe in 1934 who personally raced it through the 1934 season. Best result for Howe in 3013 was a third place at the GP Dieppe and a fourth place at the Avus Race in Berlin earlier 1934. This Maserati was later sold to George Colmondley-Tapper and then passed on to Arthur Hyde in 1937. In the 70’s Patrick Lindsay found 3013 – still residing in the UK – and over the years it was restored by David Black.

Maserati 6 CM-1500 s/n 1541
Little is known about the third pre-war Maserati racer exhibited on the stand of Red Willow Racing from the Netherlands in hall 6. Chassis 1541 was built in 1937 and sold directly to Luigi Villoresi who competed in 1937 & 1938 with this car in the Voiturette class. Most likely he drove this car at the Czech GP held in Brno in 1937 where he won prior to Charles Martin in an ERA. In 1938 Luigi Villoresi even became works driver for Maserati.

Maserati 8 CLT/50 s/n 3036
Regular Barchetta visitors already know this Maserati compressor racer very well from last years Oldtimer GP Maserati display or the Retromobile show earlier this year.
Originally built for the rich industrialist Franco Rol to compete in the Indy 500, this ill-fated project has never gained any international race laurel and was eventually sold to Fred Zambucka from New Zealand. Up to today not confirmed is the rumour that only one car was built with an additional 8 CLT/50 engine – number 3036. Anyway, today two complete 8 CLT/50’s exist and s/n 3036 – like the 8 CM mentioned above - is still owned by Dr. Thomas Bscher while Axel Schuette is offering this Maserati since November 2000.

Low Budget Maseratis
Besides such milestones in the Maserati history a few much, much cheaper Maserati sports cars were offered from various dealers. Under them a barn-find Maserati Mexico priced at 19.000 DM but in need of the mother of all restorations. 50.000 DM bought a nice and clean looking Maserati Mistral Coupe and for a rust free red painted Ghibli ca. 70.000 DM were to invest.

OSCA's at the Techno Classica 2001
Three OSCAs race cars – two of them real restoration projects - were displayed at the Techno Classica 2001. Klaus Werner offered an almost perfect Tipo S for sale. La Galerie des Damiers displayed an OSCA MT4 – 1500 s/n 1154 in primer, ordered new by Racing Sport Srl. for the French Michel Collange in 1955. And last but not least Red Willow Racing showed a Tipo S 750 s/n 755 restoration project, an original works racer driven by Alejandro de Tomaso and Luciano Mantovani. Race insults include a class win for de Tomaso at the Coppa Delamare Deboutteville and a class win at the Aosta-San Bernardo hillclimb driven by Mantovani both in 1957.

Bjoern Schmidt