Ferrari 500 Superfast

In the early years of the brand’s history, Enzo Ferrari was only interested in his motorsport activities in sports car racing and Formula 1. That he had to build and sell road cars to finance these operations was a necessary evil to him. Especially the American market quickly developed into the most important business area. Specially here the saying ‘win on sunday, sell on monday’ applied in the 1950s. Therefore, in 1952 Ferrari developed the 342 America as a new, more comfortable top model with an extended wheelbase and the large V12 engine with a larger displacement, further developed by Aurelio Lampredi. After only six examples the model change to the 375 America followed, whose engine was increased from 4.1 to 4.5 liters, whereby full 300 hp were available. Again the production remained very manageable with only about 13 vehicles. Three series of the 410 Superamerica followed with again increased capacity. From 4.9 liters the engine technicians drew initially 340, in the third series finally even 360 hp. In January 1960, after 36 vehicles built, the company switched to the 400 Superamerica, which now used the smaller Colombo-V12 with four liters of displacement and a completely newly developed platform. Ferrari also deviated for the first time from the previous practice of naming models according to the displacement of a single cylinder. 23 Series I vehicles were followed by another 23 Series II vehicles with a slightly extended wheelbase.

In 1964, the series of top models for the American market reached its final climax with the 500 Superfast presented at the Geneva Motor Show. Thanks to a wheelbase of 2.65 meters, the car had enough room for four people inside. Outside, Pininfarina came into its own. The Italian design house had already introduced a unique styling study called Superfast and based on the predecessor model, which they had continously developed over the following years to Superfast II, Superfast III and Superfast IV. This knowledge flowed into the slightly extended bodywork of the Ferrari 500 Superfast, whereby the air resistance was very low. In order to be able to convert this into really good driving performance, the twelve-cylinder engine was enlarged to five liters, resulting in 400 hp and 475 newtonmeters of torque. This enabled the car to reach a topspeed of up to 280 kph (174 mph). Of the 36 cars built, eight left the factory in Maranello with RHD configuration, which indicates that other markets were now also requesting large luxurious Ferrari models. For this reason Ferrari discontinued the especially for USA developed series in 1966 and instead started building cars that were offered worldwide.

Gooding & Co. announced a Ferrari 500 Superfast for the annual car auction in Scottsdale in mid-January 2020. Chassis number 6305 is the only one in the range that has left the assembly line painted black. The first owner in Italy was followed by various car collectors all over the world, until the car found a long-standing home in the USA. This was also where an extensive engine overhaul at Motion Products Inc., an award-winning restoration company for Ferrari classics, took place. In addition, this vehicle received a Ferrari Classiche certification, which also confirms matching numbers of the original engine and transmission still installed in the car. On 17 or 18 January, this rare sports car could find a new owner.

Images: Gooding & Co.