Ferrari 375 F1 restoration
Among all the current Formula 1 teams, there is only one that has been on the grid since the beginning of this championship: Ferrari. With only a few exceptions, the racing cars from Maranello have competed in every Grand Prix. In the first year, 1950, however, the team only managed two second places and one third. It wasn’t until 1951, with the newly developed Ferrari 375 F1, that this flaw was remedied. Aurelio Lampredi was responsible for the powerful V12 engine. Ferrari took further podium finishes at the Swiss, Belgian and French Grand Prix. The Italians skipped the race in the USA, the Indianapolis 500, like most of the other European teams entered in the championship. At the fifth round of the season, the British Grand Prix, José Froilán González finally scored the first victory for the Ferrari team. Two more victories followed directly in Germany and Italy.
Chassis number 005 was sold
Only very few examples of the racing cars of that time remain to this day. Ferrari scrapped many cars after the seasons, as they were no longer needed. Others crashed during racing events and weren’t rebuilt. Accordingly, it is amazing to see a 375 F1. The example with chassis number 005, driven by Alberto Ascari to the two victories in Germany and Italy in 1951, recently received an extensive restoration. This took place in the Classiche department of Ferrari in Maranello. After the end of the 1951 season, Ferrari had sold this 375 F1 to privateer Francisco “Chico” Landi, who had it repainted yellow. In doing so, he wanted to remind people of his Brazilian origins. In 1952, he entered the race car in a number of events in Europe and South America.
005 took part in races until 1964
Three years later, Scaglietti carried out a conversion to a sports car. While the bodywork was reminiscent of the 750 Monza, the central seating position was retained. In 1957, Chico Landi had the original V12 replaced with a V8 engine from Chevrolet in Brazil. Over the course of the following years, further body conversions took place. Chassis number 005 probably drove its last race in 1964 in Interlagos. It took until the 1970s for British race car collector Colin Crabbe to come across the remains of this Ferrari 375 F1 by chance. He was able to purchase the car and any remaining parts and had it restored by Tony Merrick in the UK. In the process, a new monoposto body was created, which, however, didn’t match the original in all details. Instead, the V12 engine found its way back into the chassis.
Completely restored at Ferrari Classiche
In September 2019, restoration work began at Ferrari Classiche on behalf of the current owner. Of the original car, it was mainly the important chassis parts that had survived. The supporting areas for the body had been incorrectly constructed from round instead of square tubes. However, the experts at the factory also quickly determined that a completely new body had to be created from aluminium sheets in order to restore this car to its original condition. Sketches and technical drawings from the Ferrari archive helped in this process. After these had been viewed, a 1:3 scale model was created, followed by wooden bucks on which the individual sheets were shaped by hand. The completed car made its debut in 2021 with Charles Leclerc at the wheel in the supporting program of the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
Images: Ferrari, A.Ceccarelli, A.Bianchetti/Red Focus
